Catching Me
by Neros-Wolf Gundam
Summary: This is my sequel to my first story with Spike/Xander called The Fall. In this one, Spike and Xander are finally out of Sunnydale and meet Spike's childe. R&R to find out more! Warning: Slash and het both in this story! Possible threesome.
1. Chapter One: Catching Retribution

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I bow to Joss' awesomeness. This was made to honor him and his great characters and for me to have a bloody good time! lol enjoy!

**Catching Me**

**Chapter**** One:  
Catching Retribution**

New England  
Boston, Massachusetts  
June 22, 1923

"But daddy isn't here Spike, we should find daddy…" Drusilla raved as they entered one of the bars along the strip they were currently stalking. Both were still hungry and Spike couldn't find a single treat that would fill both of them up.

"Hush up Dru, daddy can bloody well take care of himself, for now we need to talk care of ourselves and find a snack." Spike, also known as William the Bloody, kept a tight hold on Drusilla's hand as they found their way though the bar.

It was easy to get in, once he had snapped the neck of the guard at the door. At least in here they would be safe for a while, it was another speakeasy they had found to look for dinner. This one, as it appeared to be, was a strip joint too, with a number of pretty ladies up on stage taking their clothes off for money.

Spike sat Drusilla at a booth, so he could go around and find someone suitable for them to drink off of. Ever since Angel had been cursed with a soul and Darla decided to abandon them they had been on their own. For a little over 20 years they have been doing pretty well for themselves, but Spike wanted somewhere to set up Drusilla and himself for a while, maybe get some minions to take care of their needs but in order to do that he needed to get stronger.

He had thought he had finally found one, a pretty girl in a flapper dress willing to give it up to just about anyone when the lights dimmed and some Celtic music started. For a moment Spike expected to see the great Irish poof himself but what he saw made him stop in his tracks.

The girl had short blood red hair; it clung to her shoulders like blood drops he wanted to lick off because he knew it would be so very sweet. Her eyes were as green as emeralds, as if he were staring at the very isles of Eire and their grass fields. Her body went on forever and when she opened her mouth to sing with the music, relaying a story in a song as most Celtic ballads did, it was like a siren's song leading him closer and closer. The music pulled him in and the imagery she created with her words was outstanding.

Spike was startled out of his watching when he was touched by Drusilla, who looked at him thoughtfully before speaking. "You are so taken with the green kitten, aren't you Spike?" She wrapped her arms around his, coming closer to her childe. She laid her head on his shoulder and looked up to the girl on the stage currently taking off a few articles of clothing, but she never got nearly as naked as any of the other girls. Drusilla smiled as she spoke, "she would upset daddy very much, but I see her and my Spike surrounded by pretty flames and singing."

Spike turned to look at her curiously, Drusilla's visions were always right but one could never really decipher them at the time unless they got more detail out of her. "Wot do you see princess?"

Drusilla then began to sing along with the song that the girl onstage was singing. Unfortunately without a proper command of the Celtic language she couldn't replicate some of the sounds or syllables and Spike knew he wasn't going to get any more out of her right now. He did get one thing from her meaning, she saw this girl in the future and obviously she was with them. He was never one to call Drusilla a liar so a plan began to form in his mind, a plan to turn his own childe.

Spike smirked, "Let's find us a bite to eat an then find a place for the day, how's that princess?"

That obviously got Drusilla's attention as she pointed to a girl close by and Spike smirked, it was the same girl he had originally been stalking. He was glad they stopped in Boston.

*** Present Day ***

"_Because the master of this territory," Spike took the cigarette out of his mouth and looked to Xander as he blew out the smoke, the curls and ringlets of ghost like fingers finding their way around his head, "she's my childe."_

Xander looked at Spike incredulously, for a moment he thought he misheard the vampire. Did he just say he had a childe? "Spike, how come none of the watcher journals don't mention her or that there aren't any accounts for that matter?"

Spike snorted, "she's kept hidden since I turned her back in the 20's. If Angelus knew I turned my own childe, he'd be after her in a split second. Try to make her into another Dru." Spike leaned over the railing to look down at the river below.

"Okay that does make sense, Angelus could be pretty nasty. I certainly wouldn't put it past him to try and turn her into another Drusilla." Xander agreed as he leaned on the railing next to Spike. "So, why would you avoid her if she's your childe? Wouldn't you be happy to see her?"

"Usually I would pet, been a while since I've seen her. But you see I don't want her to see you an think about killin' you." Xander's eyes widened comically and Spike chuckled, "don't worry I wouldn't let her touch you, but I don't want to see you an her clash."

Spike nodded, "uh huh, I'm sensing a story here." Xander smiled, leaning against the railing and signaling he wasn't going anywhere until he heard the rest of the story.

"Well, she liked Dru alright. She just didn't like sharing me is all. She always wanted to just have me to herself a while, me an her killin' our way across a country an havin' a bloody good time. I had promised to take her to Paris, show her the Louvre."

"You still could," Xander mentioned, looking up at the stars. He understood everything about vampire families; he was paying attention when Giles was lecturing about it.

"Wot do you mean luv?" Spike asked, flicking his cigarette butt with a shower of sparks into the river below.

"I mean if we meet her, and she's okay with the whole you and me thing, maybe we should take her with us…I think I'd like to see the Louvre too." Xander looked over at the vampire and smiled an genuine warm smile. "I mean, it wouldn't be that hard for me to give you guys enough space for the sire/childe bonding thing, and then you could do the mate bonding thing with me to make it special and it sounds really good already so why don't' we go look for her?" Xander finally took a breath after that long babble sentence.

Thankfully enough, Spike had become fluent in both Xander and Willow-babble. To the untrained ear that sentence sounded like a long string of words that had no meaning or origin. To him it sounded like music, his lover admitting to be his mate and stating how okay he was with the sire/childe thing. Putting his arm around Xander to bring the boy in close, he rolled his brow across Xander's in a familiar gesture he'd used often with Dru. "You are a bit of alright, luv. I can't believe you're okay with this kind of thing."

Xander smiled, enjoying the fact Spike would use this intimate gesture with him. Something deep within him uncurled and started to purr contentedly. Of course the purr didn't actually happen, as he didn't have the equipment necessary to purr. However, the contentment he felt deep within him somehow caused the sensation of purring his happiness. "I did pay attention when Giles talked about vampires and their traditions. I even grabbed a few of the books to read up on it."

At this revelation Spike was the one to break out into a purr; he didn't mind doing it for Xander. Anyone else though, he'd claim it a myth and call them barmy for even thinking vampires could purr. "Knew you were so much smarter than all the others Xan, I knew you were."

Xander looked away then, but did not move from Spike's arms otherwise. "No I'm not, I just read a little extra than the rest at the time…"

Spike jerked him forward so they were face to face, "don't you go putting yourself down luv. You are smart, you just learn in a different way than the others. Haven't you heard of the different intelligences?" Spike knew the answer before Xander shook his head. Spike sighed, "right, I'm not gona get into here in the middle of a soddin bridge, but I will give you the short an dirty version. Everyone learns differently. Red learns by usin numbers an magic an the like, Buffy learned by runnin her gob to death." This caused Xander to laugh softly, because it was true. "You learn by usin yer hands. That's why you were so good at construction and the like. I have no doubt if you put yer mind to stuff like that you'd succeed."

Xander was going to argue, but really why should he? Spike was right even if he hadn't heard about the multiple intelligence things. Besides, the only person he was concerned about impressing was Spike and as long as Spike thought he was smart that was good enough for him.

"So, tell me about Blair," Xander asked as he sipped at his soda. He looked up at the stars, it really was a beautiful night.

"Well, where should I start? I saw her for the first time when Dru an I visited Boston back in 1923. She was workin at a speakeasy…" He turned to look at Xander a moment, "understand back then was prohibition. Drinkin alcohol was illegal an the only way to get it was though secret joints where you had to have a password to get in."

"Oh, just like in the movies!" Xander seemed intruiged now, that an actual event in a movie was true.

Spike laughed at Xander's excitement, "yeah, pet. Just like in the movies. Anyway, she took her clothes off for money, what little there was to begin with. That said she wasn't a whore. She only took the clothes off for money; she never offered any extra services. I could respect that luv, the depression was settin in an everyone needed a way to supplement Wot income they had."

Xander nodded, leaning on his arm. "Well, what did she do for a living?"

"She was a ledger clock," Spike replied as he got another cigarette out to light. He saw Xander's confused look and cursed the fact the boy didn't know British terminology, "she was an accountant, luv, a bookkeeper. She kept track of money for people an she was damn good at it. Just… her dad wasn't all that great."

Xander could almost guess how he wasn't a very good dad, "let me guess, something like my dad?"

Spike snorted, "you don't know the half of it luv." Spike paused to light his second cigarette and kept going, "you gotta understand they were Irish immigrants. Her da, he drank a lot like your da. He took his frustrations of the family business goin under out on both her mum an her. To try an help the family she took the second job. It was the third night that I'd seen her in a row that I finally decided to go though with my plan an turn her."

"I'm guessing you didn't know about her dad at the time?" Xander asked, none of this bothered him. It was how Spike's past was and he accepted it all when he agreed to be this vampire's mate.

"Nope, all I knew was that Dru saw her an me together in the future an who was I to call her a liar?" Spike looked up at the stars, wishing they'd talk to him now like they did Drusilla. Maybe he'd know which way to go from here.

Spike felt Xander's arms go around him and he relaxed as Xander's head rested against his shoulder. "How bout we get back to the room, yeah? Have some snuggles, and plan our next step yeah?"

Xander nodded, he couldn't complain with that plan. Snuggling with his vampire while they talked out and decided where they'd go next. Maybe he could convince Spike to go to Europe so they could see the sights together.

They began to walk down the bridge again, arm in arm, when they heard the squelching of tires on pavement. They turned just in time to see a pick-up truck, black of course, speeding down the bridge. It got just past them before a door opened on the passenger side and dumped a suspiciously human shaped object out of the truck before speeding off again.

Xander blinked, "well, that was odd. Maybe we should go over and see if the person is alright?"

Spike shook his head, "I dunno pet, Wotever that bloke did we don't want to get tangled up in. Best we just continue on and get back to the room, yeah?"

Xander's white hat tendencies wouldn't be pushed aside like that. Xander shook his head, "we should at least check to see if they are alright…maybe call 911 real quick and then go."

Spike cursed the boy's condition to help those in need. But he agreed. He wouldn't get Xander back to the hotel unless they checked. Well he could, honestly he could just toss the boy over his shoulder and run back. They'd make it there in less than 30 seconds. But the boy would be sore at him for a while and he wanted to get laid tonight. Was that so much to ask?

As the advanced on the still body Spike stiffened a little. He recognized that scent, he recognized the bit of red hair that spilled out past a cap that was on a very recognizable face, and he recognized the claddagh ring on a very familiar hand that he'd seen on him in one way or another for so many years.

Spike rushed forward the last few feet, and turned the lump over. Underneath the dirt and blood and swollen bruises was the pretty face of the very woman Spike turned 86 years ago. "Oh, bollocks! Blair!" Spike pulled the limp woman up and pulled the woolen cap from her head. Dark fiery red hair spilled out in waves where she had not cut her hair in so long. Spike looked over his childe worried; he began to track the different wounds she had, so he'd know what he had to do.

Beginning with her face she had a number of bruises and cuts. Her lip was split, her left eye was black, there was blood caked in her hair at her hair line. She was a mess, and she smelled very much like urine where someone or multiple someone's had pissed on her.

Xander had knelt down next to the two vampires as well; looking Blair's broken body over. "We should take her back to our room and clean her up, Spike. Someone did a number on her."

Spike seemed to growl as he stood, "yeah, an soon as I find out who they're gona get my boot up their arse." He carefully picked Blair's body up, trying hard not to jar her too much in case of any broken bones. Obviously it wasn't enough because she cried out in her unconscious state at the pain of bones grinding.

Spike sat her back down, "fuck we have to set a few bones right now or they'll just get worse."

Xander watched Spike laid her spread out and began to check where the bones were broken. He found a broken femur in her left leg and a dislocated shoulder. Spike sat over her upper body as he prepared to restrain her. "You have to set her leg luv."

"What! I…I don't know if I can Spike… Can't I hold her down and you do it?" Xander watched his vampire lover nerviously.

"You don't know how to hold her down, nor do you have the strength. She'd claw you an hurt you, you have to set her leg." Spike said as calmly and patiently as possible. "y've set yer own enough times, it's the same thing just in female form."

Xander swallowed and took a quick breath. He knew Spike was right, if he were to hold Blair down chances were he'd claw him and kick him and hurt him. He knelt back down next to the broken leg and judged how to pull it in order to set it.

Spike knew the moment he'd done it. He had heard a sickening crunch as the bone was set back in line and Blair wailed in pain. She jerked against his hold, her hands forming claws to tear at him, but he held firm until she quit struggling.

When she finally settled back into the unnatural sleep that he knew was a vampire in a healing coma Spike nodded. He looked back to Xander who was shaking from setting a bone and watching a vampire react so violently.

"Y'did good Xan, trust me. You took away her pain," Spike looked back down at the still body. "Unfortunately that hurt so much it put her into a coma."

"A coma! I thought you said I helped!" Xander was terrified he'd just made things worse.

"Settle down luv, comas are different for vampires then they are for humans. A vampire goes into a coma when they've been hurt bad. Their body goes into arrest and won't awaken again until the healing has finished. However, it's very likely she can hear everything even if she can't react."

"You think she can hear us?" Xander asked, coming beside his lover to peer at the girl.

"It's possible, unless she really is sleepin' too. Now, get on her other side an hold her while I relocate her shoulder." Spike held the girl up while Xander moved around behind her to hold her.

"Who do you think did this?" Xander asked. He braced himself as a backstop while Spike forced her shoulder forward and back into its socket. This time Blair lay still and did not react.

"I don't know, but I did get a whiff of vampire scent form that truck that drove by an dumped her. Chances are they were tryin to get her into the river. When she fell short they probably decided to drive away instead of tossing her over when they saw us." Spike stroked the girl's cheek gently, his childe and she lay at his feet broken and battered. He'd put her back together, his precious childe.

Xander noticed this and smiled inwardly, sire and childe were back together and he'd make sure they stayed together if it was the last thing he ever did. He knew how important relationships like this were and how much love could be between the two vampires. He felt privileged to be a part of it. Privileged instead of jealous, and he didn't feel like trying to examine that. Instead he accepted it as truth and moved on.

"It was damn lucky we were here tonight." Xander mentioned as he held the vampire up while Spike stood. He handed over his burden as Spike pulled her up into his arms.

"You can say that again, luv. Let's get out of here before those blokes get back to finish wot they started." Spike let Xander go first before following the boy toward their hotel room on the other side of the river.

Stepping into to room, Spike deposited his burden on the bed before sending Xander into the bathroom to grab whatever items they could use to clean Blair up with. He wasn't worried so much about bandaging her up; her vampire healing would take care of that. His biggest concern was getting her clean and making sure nothing healed inside the wounds on her body.

When Xander was coming back in with water, towels and other sundry items to clean out wounds with Spike was ripping the shirt off her. It was stained and in bloody shreds anyway. He caught a glint in her back when he was removing the rags and frowned, "bollocks, she's got glass in her back. Get some pliers or something we have to get the glass out." Spike removed the rest of the shirt and tossed it in the vicinity of the trash can.

Xander had searched the room for anything they could use and came up with a pair of pliers a repair man had left under the sink. He sat it on the bed as he brought over a plate to put the shards on once Spike had removed them. "We don't have anything to bandage her up with," Xander mentioned.

"No need for that pet, her vamp healin will kick in soon. But we don't want anythin' healing inside the wounds so we gotta get out ever last piece of glass."

Xander nodded, he was already setting to work getting her hair out of the way. He'd pulled glass out of his own wounds enough times to know what to do. Together, passing the pliers back and forth, they removed ever last shard from her back and laid them on the plate nearby. Each clink signaling they were that much closer to finishing.

Soon the plate was full of bloody pieces of glass and her back was cleaned. Spike had quickly washed the wounds with one of the towels and warm water before turning to Xander, and the boy took the queue to take the glass shards out of the way.

Once Xander had given his childe her privacy Spike turned down the sheets quickly and laid her, on her back, on the bed. Once he had removed the pants still wrapped around her legs he began to check for any other wounds besides the obvious heavy bruising around the broken bone.

"My poor little girl, wot did they do to you?" He ran a hand gently down her belly and stroked his fingers up her side. Making sure the only serious wounds left were the scrapes on her face where she fell from the truck, he pulled the blankets up over her body. "I remember when you gave your new doll to Dru because she was sad about 'daddy' getting than nasty soul." He gave a short laugh, remembering the events, "you got all huffy when she started callin' it Miss Edith and said she had better hair then yours. Ya aught to know she was just teasing you poppet. She still did love you, told me so many nights."

Xander stood in the doorway of the bathroom listening to Spike talk to his comatose childe. He smiled a little; he remembered Drusilla and didn't find it hard to consider the crazed vampire liking Spike's childe. She loved Spike and would probably love whatever he created. Unfortunately he also remembered the instance when she left Spike for a Chaos Demon only to return a while after Spike had gotten chipped to help feed him. She had broken a girl's neck so Spike could feed fresh from a vein without fear of the chip firing.

The chip was no longer a problem, and Xander was glad of that. He knew he essentially helped put a killer back on the streets but that was the natural order of things. He felt himself unable to judge Spike at all, what with his little k-9 problem. He'd never told Spike about the time he'd been possessed with a Hyena spirit. Truth was…he wasn't sure it had ever left. And now, watching Spike care so sweetly for his childe he had sense of…family. It was a strange sensation and the term 'pack' came strongly to his mind. It unnerved him that he couldn't pin down the source of this and decide for sure whether or not he still had a Hyena spirit within him.

Xander watched as Spike dipped a wash cloth in the warm water and started to clean Blair's face. As the dirt and blood began to wash away, Xander got a glimpse of the beauty that lay beneath. Her red hair only the tip of the ice burg, and Xander could guess she had glowing green eyes to finish the look. He knew had her face not been swollen in places, or scraped, her looks would be stunning.

Starting with her lips, Spike cleaned away the blood from the split and traveled up to her right eyebrow to clean the dried trickles of blood that had gone down into her eye. Dipping the rag into the water to rinse it, Spike continued on with her nose that looked to be broken. He knew it'd heal wrong if he didn't align it. With a quick snap, it was back in its proper position and he dabbed at the caked blood beneath her nostrils.

Spike could only imagine the trauma needed to cause a break. _A fist slamming into the side of her face, wearing a gold ring with the symbol of the devil on it._ Spike ran a thumb across a cut eyebrow, no torn! Upon further examination there was a recognizable indentation into the side of the eyebrow where a piercing used to be. Use to be, as now it was torn out. _Fingers, sporting well manicured nails, plucking at the bar imbedded in flesh and savagely ripping it out. _

Spike smelled holy water in the wound, and knew that it would now scar into a similar shape of his own scar he had received over 100 years ago. Spike checked her ears then, fearing perhaps if the culprit had done the same to all piercings in her body but breathed a sigh of relief when her ears were whole and intact; all four holes in each ear still there.

Spike brushed the wet cloth over her lips, cleaning the new blood there from where her split lip had opened again and took a second glance. Another piercing had survived intact, and this one Spike had not seen yet. A stud stuck out of her bottom lip, a blue jewel like ball attached to the end and it sparkled as the light caught it. Spike brushed a fingertip over it. She was always one for symbolism and poetic irony. He was curious as to what this was supposed to mean.

Further examining her lips, he noticed two holes in her top lip just above where her fangs would be. These were empty however intact. She obviously had gotten herself pierced there as well and Spike could imagine what those piercings looked like when she wore them, probably like fangs. Again, she was always one for symbolism and poetic irony. He wondered if her victims had any clue what they were getting into as she stalked them. If they thought the piercings were merely there for decoration or if they suspected they hinted at an even more dangerous threat beneath.

By this time Xander had been standing over her looking over the various piercings she sported. Four in each ear, three in the lobes and one in her cartilage; and three in her lips making a total of 11 holes. "She really took Punk to a whole new level."

Spike could only nod, "the ones in her lips are new, at least new to me. Last time I saw her she didn't have them."

"Who do you think did this to her?" Xander asked as he walked around the bed and gathered up the soiled towels to get rid of.

Spike could only shake his head as he thought, "dunno, pet. She knows how to make enemies. She's a hellova fighter though; typically she can hold her own. I smell a number of different scents on her, most of which are vampire but there's one…an I can't place it."

Xander frowned as he brought in a few more wash clothes to help clean Blair up with, "what do you mean you can't place it?"

"I mean, I've never smelled this kind of scent before. It smells of death, yeah. But it's old an there's brimstone an the distinct smell of fire in there." Spike said as he sat there thinking. It was obvious she'd been jumped by multiple enemies and where as she was good…she wasn't that good. If enough enemies tried to bring her down…they'd succeed.

The bed shifted and at first Spike thought it may have been Xander trying to help, but when it shifted violently again he got up and realized Xander was still standing in the doorway to the bathroom.

Blair clawed at the bed as they heard a few snaps, bones resetting themselves thanks to the vampire healing, and her deep emerald eyes opened. The first thing she saw was neatly groomed and slicked back hair and she attacked without thinking and without realizing that hair was bleach blonde instead of black.

Her mind returned to her, and her vision cleared, once she had Spike against the wall with both her hands around his throat. Thankfully vampires didn't need to breath but Spike knew any tighter and the girl might have been able to take his head clean off.

The moment he felt her grip loosen even a millimeter his hands grabbed her wrists and pulled her off his throat. Holding them out to the side to make sure she didn't go into another fit he looked in her eyes, "it's me poppet, Spike."

Her fierce look smoothed out, she lost her edge, and would have fallen back on her ass had Spike's arm not quickly wrapped around her waist to keep her up. "Fuck, Spike…sight for sore eyes you are."

Xander heard the hint of an Irish accent in her voice. An attempt to clean her voice of such an accent never completely fulfilled.

Spike looked her over her face carefully, "wish I could say the same for you, poppet."

Blair laughed humorlessly, "pain in me arse."

Spike's lips curved up slightly, "Irish bitch…"

Blair's arms crawled their way up around the Brit's neck and hugged as much as she could, with the pain she was in. Spike's other arm snaked around her waist to clutch her close as well. "Oh, god I missed you."

"Now, now, poppet. We've discussed this before, I'm dead sexy but I'm no god." Spike smiled, this caused both Xander and Blair to snort.

"How humble of you," Blair mumbled into his neck. She buried herself away inside his trench coat as if trying to hide from the world. This made Xander ponder; exactly what was it that she had gone though before he and Spike had found her.

Pulling back Spike continued to examine her face, "so, wot's with all the new holes?" Spike moved a finger about her face, indicating the new areas of piercings.

Blair snorted, pulling away. "For me to know an' you to piss off."

"Right to the main event are we?" Spike crossed his arms looking at his childe, "I thought for sure we'd have a few side shows first."

She looked up to him as she started to search around in her jacket that had been discarded a few minutes ago for her smokes. "You weren't here, why should you give a fuck?" Having found her bounty she cried out in triumph finding a pack with a few cigarettes left. Now if only she could find her lighter.

Cigarette dangling from her lips she began to search again, everywhere, for her lighter. Spike sighed; rolling his eyes, and came over to stand beside her. He got out his battered Zippo and lit it in front of her face. She gripped his hand and leaned in to light it. The tip flared to life and she drew deeply on it. "Let's not go kick salt in that old wound luv, I'm here now." Spike snapped the lighter shut, jerking it in front of her face so the lid clipped shut as if trying to bite at her.

She looked up at him with what Xander could only describe as the most frightening glare he'd seen ever. "Yeah, here now, after how many years?"

Spike sighed, "I don't know, when did peaches go nuts an try to open the hellmouth?"

Blair shrugged, "two years, approximately."

Spike trapped her between his body and the wall, getting her to finally look at him seriously, "I was a wanker, I admit it. But had I known you were in trouble I would have come regardless."

Blair looked into his eyes; that answer seemed to placate her. Bringing the cigarette to her mouth and drawing on it, she blew the smoke in his face. He tensed a bit, still waiting for her to make with the information. "Fine," she spat, "I'll tell you what happened."

Spike moved as she pushed her way past him to set on the bed. She was aware of how she must smell at the moment and planned to take a shower as soon as she finished relaying the story to her sire and – the boy smelled interesting. Smelled just like Spike, that was… interesting – his mate.

"It was Balthazar, one of Lu's inner circle demons. He's been an archenemy of mine for some time now. Recently he's set his sights on my company." She brought the cigarette up to her lips and took a puff.

"Company?" Spike asked, needing to get all the facts in his head. How long had she owned a company?

"Yes, I own a company that develops artificial human blood. My first initial reason behind that was I didn't want to have to hunt for my food every single night and… I knew about your chipped condition. So I figured I'd find a way to at least make meals taste better. I also found a market in the human industry with hospitals that need to find a way to transfuse blood into sick patients. My company skyrocketed after that." Blair had finally finished her cigarette and put it out right on the end table without even bothering to see if there was an ashtray nearby.

"So, Balthazar decided to take an interest in your success?" Spike asked, grabbing an ash tray and putting it within reach when Blair moved to light up another.

"Of course, bloody moocher that he is. Says Lu wants all his inner circle elite to control some company of importance eventually. I didn't buy it. So he started to turn my minions against me." She had found a book of matches finally. She used her thumb to flick one of the matches up and it flared brightly.

"Is that who beat the shit out of you." There was slight humor in Spike's eyes, a parent poking fun at a child after a school yard rumble to get the child to cheer up.

Blair speared him with a withering look, lighting her second and last cigarette. "I came in to check the building before going home and that's when they jumped me. Took 20 minions to finally bring me down, the wankers. I'll dust every last one of them soon as I get my hands on em."

"Yer lucky you're not dust." Spike mentioned as he took the cigarette out of her mouth, ignoring her glare, and stuck it into his own mouth for a puff. "In fact, why didn't he dust you? He had you in that position."

"It's a little game we play, he tries to kill me and take my company but I manage to send him to hell before he can and I wait for him to come back so we can play again." Blair snatched her cigarette back once Spike had finished his puff.

"An what if he nearly succeeds in dusting you an takes your company?" Xander – definitely Spike's mate, he reeked of the vampire and she smirked inwardly. He'll be fun to play with – spoke up.

"Oh, but the game is only beginning if he does that." Blair stood, handing the remainder of the cigarette back to Spike as she passed, "now, if you don't mind I'd like to get a shower. I want to get all those wankers' piss off me. Mental note: remind me to rip their dicks off before I dust them."

Spike watched Blair retreat into the bathroom as Xander came to stand by the vampire's side, "she scares me." Xander took a moment and realized this whole time she was nude, "and I think I know where she gets her modesty." Xander turned his eyes on Spike, the very same vampire he'd caught 'exercising' naked in his bed.

Spike snorted, Xander was right on that one. But he had to also concede Xander's other statement, she scared him sometimes too.


	2. Chapter Two: Catching Devotion

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I bow to Joss' awesomeness. This was made to honor him and his great characters and for me to have a bloody good time! lol enjoy!

**Catching Me**

**Chapter**** Two:  
Catching Devotion**

New England  
Boston, Massachusetts  
June 25, 1923

Walking into the dressing room, Blair dropped the articles of clothing into the seat and stared at herself in the mirror. All she saw was herself, her blood shot eyes, and bags under those eyes. She saw an exhausted young woman who was trying desperately to work two jobs to afford to live.

She also saw a scared young woman afraid to go home. Her father would be furious to find out how long she stayed out at night, regardless of her Accounting job she had to go to every morning. Even worse, he'd be completely livid if he found out what kind of second job she took. Three nights in a row she'd been forced to strip for money to accumulate enough to supplement her now part time job of bookkeeping. Damn her father for deciding to leave the beautiful isles of Eire, her home of Ireland, to find work here.

Her father was a drinker too, and would get very mean when he found out his daughter was doing something to dishonor the family. To him there was no distinction between stripper and whore. In his eyes that's all she'd be and this time the beating may cost her, her life. ..

Something else nagged at her though, three nights in a row she had seen the same man in the crowd staring at her. There had been something in his eyes that drew her in and refused to let her go. And then there was the woman who was found dead behind the speakeasy, her neck looked as though it had been savaged by a dog and she knew…

Moving away from the chair in front of the vanity the strippers used to ready themselves, Blair moved toward the table that held the whiskey and tumblers. She poured herself a healthy shot, straight up, and downed it in one swallow. She grimaced as the liquid burned a path of fire down her throat, allowing it to steady her. This was why she preferred her whisky straight up.

Her back still to the door, she poured another glass before speaking, "why don ye come out now, ye've been hidin' long 'nough." She picked up the glass and turned to her guest, who was never reflected in the glass she'd been staring at only a moment ago.

Spike moved away from the corner he had been hiding, just behind the open door, waiting for his prey. "Smart one, you are luv." He came to stand in front of her, where they were just in front of the mirror over the vanity. She was reflected, he was not.

"I know what ye are, don't take a bloody rocket scientist to figure tha' out after the 'animal attack' two nights ago." Blair raised her glass a moment, "drink?"

"Since your offerin', luv…" Spike said as she turned to go back to the crystal decanter of whisky. Just as she reached the small table Spike was up against her back, pushing her red hair out of the way of her neck. "Shall I just take then, since you offered so sweetly? Y' know wot I am, y' should know to not turn yur back on me luv."

Blair paused in pouring the whisky, controlling the shivers her body seemed so adamant on expressing. Blair was always one to enjoy danger, and she was in the most dangerous situation of her life right now. "I know wot ye are, but tha' don' mean I'll show fear… Fear of death, fer it hangs over ye like a cloud waitin' to suffocate any who get close."

Spike gripped her shoulders, spinning her so quickly around the glass was flung from her hand and crashed against the floor with a loud smashing sound; the whisky lay wasted on the floor. Spike shoved her against the wall nearest to them and she looked up into the face of death unafraid. She had faced death so many times in the form of her father, this incarnation of it scared her no more than that. "Y' don't fear me… y' look at me with admiration, why?"

"Why no'? Yer strong, capable of doin' things I've only dreamed. Ye have the strength t' punish those who dare consider themselves so high in the food chain they needn't fear retribution…" Blair spoke calmly, softly, afraid that this vision may pass her by. Having always been attracted to the strange and macabre she found herself lured into this beast's presence and scared not by the prospect of death, only that it might be everlasting.

"Vampires aren't in the business of helpin' people, luv." Spike said as he stroked the soft hair that hung off her head, testing to see if it was as silken as he imagined. He wound a few strands around his claw, enjoying how the locks formed soft curls about her head with little more coaxing than that.

"I wasn't suggestin' ye were, I was suggestin' ye were the type of beast t' put those so arrogant t' assume their position in their real places." She stood there, allowing this vampire to play with her. "Ye'll drain me anyways, I know tha'. I've one request before ye do."

"An wot would that be?" Spike asked, amused this girl would think he'd just drain her after stalking her for three days. He didn't spend that much time on his food.

"Turn me into what ye are." Blair said firmly, without even a quiver in her voice.

Spike was taken aback, no one had ever asked to be turned. They always had screamed in fear of him and even begged until he had taken so much blood that they became lethargic and uncaring of what happened. "Y' sound determined luv, far be it from me t' deny you such a thing."

Before she could reply Spike dove in, driving his needle like fangs into her neck and began the process of draining her of all her blood. It was sweeter than he thought. The thick red fluid flowed from her veins quickly to fill him. The blood tasted like thick red syrup to him, like the kind mum use to pour over his pancakes.

So lost in the taste of her he almost forgot the vital part about turning a childe. Hopefully this went better than when he turned his mum. He looked to the ceiling, as if praying to the stars Dru said sung songs to her, and begged that this work.

Spike ran a claw across the hollow of his neck, causing blood to bead and drip from his still veins. He removed his fangs from her neck and then pressed her lips to the spot where blood flowed the most freely, "drink, drink for me poppet." That was the first time he ever used the endearment, and she was the only one he'd ever truly use it for again.

Blair's lips worked at the wound slowly, sucking in all the blood she could get. It tasted so sweet to her. The gnawing hunger that now hung in her bowls sated by the taste of sire's blood. Just before her heart stopped pumping she knew peace, knew what it was like to trust fully in the person she was with. The blood began to take hold, bringing death ever nearer. Only the sweet release the grim reaper provided would signal her first decent into hell.

As the world around her went dark she saw the handsome face of Spike AKA: William the Bloody, her new sire. Growing limp in his arms all her human strength left her, the last throws of death setting in. In the end, the last thing she knew was raw power…

***Present day***

A knock at the door interrupted him from his internal musings. Blair was probably dead by now which meant he now owned the newest rising company in corporate America. His master would be pleased, owning such a growing company as this. He doubted he'd be able to find a company as powerful as that his brothers who founded Wolfram & Hart in Los Angelus.

From what he understood, they were planning to bring a new hell age on under their master's nose and run it themselves. He wasn't stupid enough to try to get in on that, perhaps when their master found out and got rid of them he could take over Wolfram & Hart?

Remembering the knock at the door, no doubt one of the measly minions he'd won earlier in the night from his adversary. "Come," he barked to the door. He looked at himself in the mirror again, smoothing back his hair a bit where it had become ruffled.

A vampire minion came in, clad in a suit and tie and a rather terrified look on his face. "Master Balthazar, I've come to report on the minions who…disposed of former Mistress Blair."

"Yes, make it quick I am a very busy demon." Balthazar growled as he moved away. Balthazar, one of Lucifer's inner circle demons, looked like any human. Of course, that is if any human had red pupils in his eyes. It was a dead giveaway that he wasn't human. Of course that and anyone who possessed true sight to see his demon form beneath the masks he wore. Balthazar looked like any regular businessman whose agenda included bringing hell to earth.

Even though Balthazar seemed to only be pacing his office – newly acquired office that use to belong to Blair – and meticulously grooming himself in the mirrors off to the side. Honestly, the reasons why Blair kept such things in her office was asinine, she was a vampire without reflection. Perhaps it was her sick sense of humor that did it. Regardless, it wasn't the place of the minion to call Balthazar a liar.

"The minions have returned from their task, however there was a snag." The minion, Thomas he thought his name was, reported.

Balthazar froze, could these minions do nothing right? "What kind of snag?" Balthazar spat the last word, and the minion cringed and backed up properly.

"It turns out when they went to dump her in the river there were witnesses on the bridge. Two men, the minions reported that one smelled like a vampire and the other smelled like an animal demon of some kind. Upon further inspection one minion recognized the other vampire as William the Bloody, AKA: Spike, Blair's honored sire." The minion got out as fast as he could. All the while, Balthazar becoming more and more agitated from the news.

"Did they manage to throw her into the river then?" Balthazar hissed.

"N-no, they did not. They attempted to toss her but she awoke briefly and put up a struggle. She landed short of the railing and by that time the two on the bridge were already moving toward them. T-they did not relish coming face to face with an enraged William th-." Before the minion could finish his sentence Balthazar was on him, pining him to the wall by his throat.

"Can none of you minions do anything right!" Balthazar seethed as he gripped the neck in his fist tighter and tighter until, just like a pimple, it popped off and the vampire fell to ash on the floor.

His anger momentarily placated, Balthazar moved to Blair's – his desk and pushed a button on an intercom device, "Dalton, come clean up the vampire ash in my office would you? Oh, and send a few minions to keep an eye on William the Bloody. Chances are they are not far from the bridge those minions were sent to, to dispose of Blair. Make sure they report back any chances in the situation"

"_Yes, Master Balthazar."_ A female voice on the other end of the intercom said. A few moments later, a female minion came and removed the ash from Balthazar's office. It cause difficult because the gray ash that was the remains of the hapless vampire Balthazar had just dusted blended in with the gray carpet lining the office.

Balthazar looked out the huge picture windows to the city of Hartford below. Even so late at night it appeared busy, lights on all over the city. "I don't see Spike's appearance here as a set back. On the contrary, he will get to see me take down his favored childe when I finally finish her off once and for all. Perhaps I will get lucky and he'll run crying to his sire, Angelus. I would relish the opportunity to take down the entire line, especially Angelus who is currently CEO of Wolfram & Hart LA. They would be set back to lose their souled champion. From what I understand my brothers are counting heavily on him and their master plan. Pity, their arrogance shall be their downfall."

Balthazar's intercom beeped to life, _"Master Balthazar, your 12 o'clock appointment has arrived"_

Balthazar paused in his musings and clicked the small round button on the intercom box, "thank you, Dalton. Send him in. And clear my schedule for the next few days. I have some matters that need to be tended to and I will be indisposed until they are taken care of."

"_Yes, Master Balthazar,"_ the intercom switched off and Balthazar stood waiting while a man walked into his office. This man had on a pure black suit with a white handkerchief hanging out of the pocket. His shoes were top of the line and when he lifted his foot there was a snake symbol embossed in each sole. The cane he used had a crystal skull on top with crystallized drops of blood in the eye sockets.

Balthazar turned as he sensed the evil being in his presence, and smiled a most charming smile, "master."

(***)

Blair came out of the bathroom freshly showered and feeling better about herself. The majority of her injuries had already begun to heal but not as fast as she would have liked. She needed to feed soon or she would be no better off than she was before.

Both men she had left were setting on the bed waiting. Xander cross-legged in the middle of the bed while Spike sat on the edge, duster over a chair near by, and with a cigarette dangling from his lips. Now if that wasn't a sexy sight…Blair sighed. Right, Balthazar first then she could try to rape Spike. Of course, she pondered, you can't rape the willing.

"Tell me, poppet, whatever happened to those three books you use to carry with you? I recall you carryin' them with you wherever you went." Spike said as he put out his cigarette, having seen Blair exit the bathroom. Thankfully, Xander observed, she had one of the large towels wrapped around herself.

"They are back at my flat, of course. I don't carry them with me everywhere anymore. I have them hidden away." She said as she came into the room. Spike stood and offered her a pair of his clothes for her to put on.

Xander groaned when she dropped the towel and took the clothes, she just had to drop it didn't she! Spike smirked looking over at Xander, the boy still very much liked boobies as much as he did, that much was obvious. "Somethin' wrong over there, pet?"

"Not at all, please continue." Xander said, shutting his eyes and rolling over to hide his erection. One vampire with a modesty deficiency was bad enough; two of them were going to be his death.

Blair could only smirk as she sat the clothes on the bed and picked the pants up. She was going to pull them on when she paused, "on second thought, I better put my underwear back on no mater how blood stained they are. I know you go commando." She poked Spike's arm on her way by and the blonde vampire rubbed at the spot.

"Oi, they're clean they are! 'Sides, what use are knickers when they just get in the way, yeah? I never heard you complain before." Spike watched his childe pick though the tattered remains of her clothes and pick up the underwear she wore. The sight of which made Spike grow hard, black lace was his favorite to see on her.

"I never complained because at the time I was trying to get to your dick and suck your brains out." She stepped into the underwear and pulled them up. Finally picking up the black jeans she slipped them on and then accepted the belt he offered here, the damn things were threatening to fall at the drop of a hat. On second thought, perhaps Spike shouldn't have given her the belt.

Always the punk, Blair slipped the belt though the loops so that the belt buckle was off to the side instead of right in the middle. She pulled the black shirt on quickly and tucked it into the waist band of the pants before cinching the belt. Spike watched as she put a foot up on a nearby chair to start rolling up the ends of the pant legs, so they wouldn't drag on the ground. She was a good 5-6 inches shorter than he was. "You always were so thoughtful, poppet. Even brought Dru off with your talented mouth after she started to pout."

"The whole point of starting the oral sex was to show you how good I was, I knew all your buttons." She gave him an evil glare while saying that, trying to show Spike how much she had tried to show he should be proud of her. Even now, if he ordered it, she'd drop to her knees and suck him off. Not that she'd ever tell him that or that she enjoyed it.

Spike stalked over toward her, coming up behind her, and pressing his crotch against her lovely backside. She froze as he leaned over and growled in her ear, "you did know all my buttons, poppet. I knew all yours too. Your screams were music to my ears an Dru loved to dance to that music."

Blair couldn't control the shiver that begun at the base of her skull and traveled its way down the base of her spine. This is what her sire always did to her, always reduced her to. Would it be possible that she'd finally have the chance to spend time with him? The boy on the bed who was currently hiding the erection she could tolerate, he was cute and probably fun to play with.

The first smell of blood hit her and it took all her control and will to keep herself still as her sire spoke. Spike drew a claw across the hollow of his throat, just like the night he turned her, and spoke in a low voice. "Drink, drink for me poppet. You're weakened, you need the strength. C'mear poppet, sire's got wot you need."

Blair spun around, her eyes locking on the trickle of blood coming from Spike's throat. She darted forward and licked the trickle that had escaped, latching her mouth onto the cut. She whimpered at the first taste of sire blood in so very long.

Spike's hands came up; one holding onto her back, the other lacing though her hair. "Thought I'd tell you, poppet, the chip in m'head is no longer a problem."

Blair paused in her drinking and looked up at the other vampire confused, "since when?" Watching her pink tongue dart out to catch the few drops of blood clinging to her lips served to only arouse Spike further. Having his childe feed from him again was something else.

"Just before we came here, had a demon fry it for me. I am chip free." Spike said then pushed Blair's head back to his neck, urging her to drink.

She obliged, latching her lips back onto the cut in his throat and drank. While she did, Spike leaned in and began to lick at the wound where her eyebrow piercing had once been. A comforting gesture that had Blair whimpering a little, taking comfort in her sire.

They would have probably progressed further than just blood letting if Xander had not sat up and broke them apart, "come on guys, let's keep the clothes on yeah! I mean, I am so for the group orgy cause right now I'm hornier than I've been in a while and for a guy living with William the Bloody that's saying something. Besides, we have other stuff to think about!"

Both vampire looked at him and for a moment he had that feeling of the last piece of meat at an all you can eat buffet. He swallowed a bit, they wouldn't just attack him like that, he was safe…right? However, all the vampires did was raise an eyebrow at him. Spike was the first to speak, "Droopy's right." Xander groaned at the hated nickname.

Blair only nodded,"yes, we should head back to my apartment. I have some weapons there we can use and I need to get to those books."

Spike raised an eyebrow at that, what was in those books that was so important that she carry them with her? Whatever it was, it had to be important. His childe could be called insane at times, and absolutely evil at others, a fact he was most proud of. However, there was on thing she could not be called and that was stupid.

Blair picked up her jacket and smelled it. Her nose wrinkled at the smell and just tossed it in the garbage. She could get another. She jumped as she felt Spike drape his trench coat around her shoulders. She looked up at the vampire curiously and he shrugged, "damage it an I kick yer arse."

Blair mock smiled looking up at him, "awe, I love you too Spikey."

Spike growled, "piss off."

Xander had risen from the bed as well now and followed the two vampires out. He grabbed his own bag of things they had put together, just in case they needed to make a hasty exit. Having those packed in the back he noticed Blair eyeing the car. "What happened to the DeSoto?" She asked casually. Or at least he could tell she attempted for casual.

"It's gone, of course. This is Xander's." Spike said as he got into the driver's seat. She instantly claimed the front passenger seat so that left Xander stuck in the back. He sighed; that's okay, he'd deal. That's what he was, the Xan-Man. Dealer of great crisis. Not that he delt in crisis, he delt with it. Ah, whatever.

"Xaaannnderr… That's an interesting name, short for Alexander is it?" She asked, and Xander felt the gaze of that hungry beast on him. Why was he no comforted by Spike's presence in the car?

"Poppet," Spike warned, "you leave him alone now. Been though a lot, the boy an I 'ave. So, sit down, shut up, an point me in the direction of your flat."

Blair rolled her eyes; Spike was such a party pooper. "Head across the river again, I've got a flat above a shop just across the river." Spike nodded and started to pull out. Blair once again turned to look back at the boy in the back seat, "you really should use your full name Alexander. It's such a good name defender of men. A very strong name, just like-"

"Blair," Spike growled warningly.

"-William." Blair finished with a grin in Spike's direction. "Name of a great literary writer, its old German for 'determined protector' as well. It is a good name and one you should be proud of." She poked Spike's shoulder as she spoke.

Xander leaned forward between the seats; that wasn't something he knew about Spike's real name. "She's right, William is a good name. Determined protector does fit you, Spike."

"Sod off, both of you!" Spike growled as he pulled a rather ugly turn off the bridge onto Main St. He began muttering about being ganged up on by two lovers that were supposed to be on his side.

Blair giggled softly; she loved to get Spike riled up like this. He was cute when he got angry like that. Besides, she wasn't lying. William was a very good name, a very strong name. So was Alexander. She could see how both men in the car with her hid behind titles and fleeting names to protect themselves. She couldn't help but see herself sticking with these two for some time.

As they entered her flat above the tattoo parlor - that was an interesting discovery – Blair growled when she smelled other scents in the apartment. They were all stale, so her growl was of anger not of warning. Her and Spike didn't need to turn on the lights to see the carnage that was left of her home. However, flipping on the lights illuminated the ransacked state of the rooms. "Those bastards couldn't leave well enough alone." Blair began picking her way through the destruction.

"Wotever they were lookin for they must've found." Spike mentioned as he went over to a pretty trashed stereo system. Obviously it wasn't as trashed as he thought as it started up and Green Day began to play. Well, least she still had good taste in music.

"No they didn't," Blair came back into the room, three small books in her hand. She held them up, "they were looking for these, and they didn't find them." Blair grabbed up a duffle bag and stuffed them inside then began to go around and salvage anything she wanted to actually keep.

While she did that, Spike found the place she kept her shiny weapons. He opened the cabinet and whistled, "fuck, poppet. What were you doin, stockin up for the apocalypse?" Spike's eyes raked over the various swords, axes, crossbows, and other weapons that she had stored in the cabinet.

Blair shrugged, "something like that," she said as she found the remote to her stereo system. She flicked a few buttons and Horseshoes and Hand Grenades began to play. She smirked and nodded, "take whatever you want, I don't give a shit."

Spike hefted a double bladed axe, testing its weight. He sat that to the side and continued to look though the cabinet. Blair came in to see what weapons she'd take as well. When Spike looked up he noticed her eyebrow had finally healed with a scar. A very similar scar to his, and he reached up to run a thumb over it. "No doubt who's childe you are now."

Blair laid her head in his hand, her body language showing how relaxed she was in his presence and especially when he touched her. "I missed your touch," she muttered as she brought her hand up to lay over his larger one still on her cheek.

Spike smiled, letting her have the moment before bringing something up. "I think we had better give Angel a call, from what I hear the poof is CEO of corporate evil. I'm sure he can give us some assi-"

"NO!" Both Xander and Spike looked at her curiously then, "I mean, there's no need of that. I can handle Balthazar myself. It's just a matter of getting him one on one and then kicking his ass. He likes to hide behind his minions."

Spike frowned at that, there was something about Angel that had always set Blair off and he was going to get to the bottom of it. "Poppet, why do you hate Angel so much?"

"I don't want to talk about that," and just like that she shut him out. Blair turned, picking up a sword of considerable weight and laid it on her shoulder. She headed for the door when Spike's hand reached out and grabbed her elbow.

She spun around, dropping the sword at the same time, and glared at her sire as he spoke. "I want to know what is up between you an' the poof, now."

Blair yanked her elbow free, "I said I don't wana talk about that. He can go fuck himself."

Spike growled, he hated when Blair shut him out. Granted, she didn't shut him out about much, but this was the one thing she did. "I want to know now, poppet." Spike's voice edged on that of a sire command and he knew Blair wouldn't thank him if he used his sire voice.

"You wouldn't understand, Spike. It was a long, long time ago and I'd rather not drag it up." Blair muttered as she grabbed her sword again and went in search of anything else that she could slavage from the wreck that was her home.

"I'd understand if you'd explain it to me!" Spike followed her and grabbed her shoulder, making her spin around again. He grabbed her by both shoulders making her look into his eyes. Deep blue eyes she knew she could easily get lost in.

Blair growled at him, "I said I don't want to drag it up. In all our travels this is one that I am not going to tell you about."

Spike was sorely tempted to resort to using his sire voice, but instead decided to try and coax the answers out of her. "We've established it's something that happened between you an Angel, right?" She only nodded and he nodded in return, good they were getting somewhere. "When did it happen?"

"Twice," she hissed at him, deciding that she might as well placate him by giving him bits of information. "Once in the 1930's and again in 1976."

"The year before I took my second slayer?" Spike asked confused.

"Yeah, actually, I was on my way to New York to meet you, remember?" She could see the realization set in slowly, "it was the night of July 4th, hard for me to forget it."

Spike leaned in to look her in the eyes, "that night you called me an' asked me to meet you at the bridge just outside of Bridgeport?" Blair looked him in the eyes before slowly nodding her head. Spike cursed, he should have known that something queer was up when she called sounding scared out of her mind.

He turned when he heard her voice, sounding as scared as a little girl cornered by a hungry beast, "don't call Angel."

All the while, Xander was quiet. He had wondered into the room that the two vampires were now arguing in and something deep within him started to stir and claw wanting out. Someone was threatening his mate and he had better stand up and defend what was his.

Spike tilted his head a bit, something Blair always found sexy, and looked at her. What could have Angel done to make her fear him like that? He opened his mouth and drew breath to ask, but the words never left his mouth as he heard an animalistic snarl to his left. It suddenly made him think of Xander and wonder where the boy was, he'd become suddenly quiet during their little tiff.

Turning to see where the growl had come from they laid eyes on Xander who was hunched over in an attack ready position. It was Xander's eyes that drew their attention. Instead of the usual chocolate brown, the boy's eyes were a warm golden color. His lips were drawn back in a snarl, "Don't touch my mate!"

Neither vampire had time to react as Xander launched himself at Blair. The boy took her down and began to growl and bite at her neck, intent on ripping it out. Blair pushed both her hands into Xander's chest and pushed, getting him well away from her neck. "What the fuck is up with him, Spike!"

"I-I dunno, he's never done this before! At least, not as long as I've known him!" Spike said as he jumped on Xander's back and tried to pull him off of his childe. Xander growled and reared back, he bit at Spike's shoulder which made Spike reel back for a moment. Since when did Xander bite outside the bedroom? Spike decided he'd figure it out later, for now he had to subdue Xander and keep him from ripping Blair apart.

"I think he's possessed, Spike!" Blair called to her sire as she did her best to keep the boy from biting and ripping her neck apart. She liked her neck right where it was.

"Bloody fantastic, the boy really is a demon magnet!" Spike wrapped his arms around Xander in a headlock so the boy couldn't get his head around to bite him again. He pulled him off and stood there holding Xander, keeping him from attacking again. "Have you got anything to put him out with?"

Blair slowly got up, touching her throat to make sure it was still there, "you mean besides a right hook?"

"Yeah, besides that," he growled out at her. Spike wasn't letting her hit Xander for any reason. For all they knew this wasn't really his fault.

Blair ran to her bathroom where she kept sleeping potions in case she couldn't sleep at night. She grabbed one and figured only one dose should work, what with how powerful it was because she was a vampire and her vampiric healing would counteract most potions.

Coming back she looked at Spike, "get him to tilt his head back, I have a sleeping potion."

Spike snorted, "easy for you to say." Spike managed to tilt Xander's head back with a long pale hand on the boy's forehead. Before Xander had a chance to wiggle free Blair darted forward and poured the contents of the vial down Xander's throat. Spike, reading the boy's mind, clamped two fingers over his nose and forced his jaw shut. He let go when he heard Xander swallow, the boy choked having been forced to swallow something nasty.

It worked quickly, he had bent over to cough when the draught took hold and he fell to the floor. Spike was quick to pull the boy up and found the couch underneath all the debris and laid him down. "What the hell was that?" Blair asked.

"You tell me an we'll both know pet." Spike said as he watched Xander. The boy had not done that since he had known him, the only others who knew him before Spike came to Sunnydale were back in Sunnydale. Perhaps a phone call was in order.

"He called you his mate, and then attacked me thinking I was threatening you. Something has been itching at me since I woke up in your hotel room. I think the boy is possessed by an animal spirit, possibly K-9 in origin." Blair said as she came closer to investigate.

"You've seen this before, then?" Spike asked, crossing his arms.

"A couple times, actually, when I spent time in Japan during the first part of the 70's. They usually called the spirits into themselves, but there were a couple occasions that the possession was documented from birth. Of course it wouldn't be possession then." Blair thought about this while she gave Spike back his duster and went in search of her clothes to find something suitable for her. She could literally get lost in the folds of his duster; it was just too big for her.

Spike looked down at the boy sleeping on Blair's couch; the idea that Xander would attack whoever threatened him like that warmed him. However, what happened when Xander woke up and wanted to claim his mate?


	3. Chapter Three: Catching Annihilation

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I bow to Joss' awesomeness. This was made to honor him and his great characters and for me to have a bloody good time! lol enjoy!

**Catching Me**

**Chapter**** Three:  
Catching Annihilation**

New England  
Boston, Massachusetts  
June 26, 1923

Ophelia opened the door and jumped when she saw her daughter, filthy with dirt caking her hair, standing on the other side. Her daughter, Blair, had not been home all last night and she had grown dreadfully worried about her. "Blair, where have ye been! I an your da have been worried about ye!"

"Oh, I am sorry mum. I was engaged since las'night, I dinna have a ride 'ome." Blair stood on the other side of the threshold, she didn't move to try to come in she knew she couldn't. "Can I come in, mum. I'm filthy, I'd like t' bathe."

Ophelia looked at her daughter for a long moment before moving to the side, "Aye, by all means come in deary. Hurry up an bathe an change before yer father gets furious at the state of yer attire. An ruining such a pretty dress like tha' he'll be livid. An no' to mention on your birthday of all days."

Blair walked in, the barrier finally falling so she could enter her home again. On the other side of a street a lone figure watched with amusement dancing in blue eyes. "Oh aye, I bet he'll be real mad mum." Blair said, little did her mother know it had been her father who had been called to collect her body and burry her the night before. Oh, yes he would be very mad to see her.

Her mother, Ophelia, left her to what she had to do. Blair heard the radio playing in the den. She knew her father was passed out, or nearly passed out, in there listening to it. Walking in, Blair saw her father sprawled on the couch. The man was heedless of the danger that had entered his home in the form of his daughter.

Blair walked over to the table near the couch, picking up the glass bottle there. It was the cheapest brand of vodka any of them could stomach. Still holding the flat bottle she looked to the man on the couch, "at least yer no' waistin the good stuff."

Her voice made the man jump, bringing him out of his alcohol induced haze. The moment he laid eyes on his daughter, walking and talking, his face drained of color. He backed himself up on the couch as much as possible.

"What's the matter, da? Ye look a wee bit pale there, like ye've seen a banshee." Blair uncapped the bottle of Vodka and took a quick drink, enjoying the burn as it made its way to her belly.

"I thin' I 'ave," Fredrik mumbled as he looked the girl over. "Ye look fresh from the grave."

Blair grew angry then, having to fight her way up though her new grave wasn't her idea of a good time. She smashed the bottle against the edge of the end table, "I AM ye daft berk! Fought me way up though six feet of soil you packed down on me when ye buried me the night before. "

The man seemed to cry now and talk as if pleading for his life. "I thought ye were dead!"

Blair seemed to calm then, considering for a moment what she was now. The truth was she didn't feel much different than before she was released from mortality. The only difference she could find was now she didn't feel so bad about the act she was about to commit. "I am dead… An you will be too soon da. But the difference between ye… an me… is ye gona stay dead."

With that, and without any more warning, she jumped on the prone man lying on the couch. Raising the jagged end of the smashed bottle she still clutched in her hand, she brought it down right in the middle of his face. The screams he yelled were muffled as the sharp glass pierced his face over and over again, severing everything in the area. Blood began to coat the glass and her hand, and after six stabs she paused.

Blair looked at the blood coating her hand for a moment and then looked to the wall above the couch. The couch itself was already being covered in the crimson color of blood, but there wasn't enough on the wall she decided. Flicking her wrist she began to fling blood all over the walls, painting them with her father's life essence. She began to giggle, trying to aim the spatters just right to make a heart or something.

When Blair began to grow tired of that, and when there was no more blood to fling on the bottle, she went back to stabbing as her father was still alive and moving beneath her. Seven more times she stabbed the man in the face, only to pause once again to fling more blood. "I'll make a masterpiece for my sire with your blood da."

Once again going back to stabbing his face to get more blood to fling, Blair stabbed him another eight times before flinging the last of the blood on the wall. By that time the man laid still, no more blood pumping to give her a medium to paint in.

Becoming bored Blair abandoned the bottle on the floor and got up. She heard a gasp and turned to see her mother standing in the door way, hand over her mouth as she gazed upon the gruesome scene. Blair took a step forward toward her mother, Ophelia took a step back. "Whot have ye become?"

Blair continued to advance on her mother, who didn't move any farther. "I hurt da the way he hurt me… An now mum, because ye never did anythin' to stop him ye get to join him." Blair said, standing in front of her mother now. "It's alright mumma, I've changed." To prove this point, her face shifted into ridges and bumps. Showing the face of a killer, the face of a vampire, "Your blood will feed me mumma, sustain me in my new form. Give birth to me one more time…"

The woman watched horrified as her daughter grabbed her, pulled her down, and sunk her fangs into the soft neck of her mother. Draining her mother, Blair heard the last words uttered by the woman who gave birth to her, "Happy Birthday, baby," before the woman took her last breath from this world.

Blair dropped the empty shell with a dull thud before looking around at the now empty house, "Happy Birthday to me." Moving quickly she trudged up the stairs and ripped the door to her armoire open to look at all the dresses inside. Wiping her hand on her soil stained dress, so not to get any blood on the others before she was in them, she began to pull them all out and drop them to the floor. None of them were good enough for her until she came to an old dress, one that her mother had given her a long time ago. It was green with gold trim and looked like one of those traditional frocks that an Irish lady would wear. She smiled, it was perfect.

Leaving the rest where she'd dropped them she quickly ripped the old dress off herself. Making quick work of her bath, scrubbing herself everywhere to make herself nice and clean, she donned the new dress and set about her preparations.

First and foremost, she gathered all the oil lamps her mother and father still insisted on using and smashed them all over the house, making sure the oil spread considerably to douse as much fabric and furniture as possible. She would leave this life behind forever.

Once her task was finished, and the house smelled thickly of the oil used in the lamps, Blair found herself in the library. She looked over the selection of books and chose three of them before leaving the room. She was always one who enjoyed irony and why stop at killing her parents on her birthday. Donning a cloak around herself, Blair made one last check of the house she had come to call home up until recently before removing a book of matches from her bodice.

Striking one she looked at the flame before flicking it to the damp carpet just in front of the door. She watched the entry way become engulfed in flames before leaving the house and walking out into the cool night air. Clutching the three books to her bosom, Blair turned her back on what had been left of her life, confident in the future. She had always fancied H. G. Wells, and his novel The Time Machine. The books themselves she found ironic as in the book The Time Machine the protagonist took three books with him when he left for the future for the last time. She saw herself as a kind of time machine, if an organic one. She would eventually live to see the future become history, and the contents of these books would go with her.

Blair stopped as she heard clapping coming from an alley. She turned and watched as her new sire, Spike, came out. "Well done luv, well done. Couldn't have done better meself." Blair smiled proudly at her sire. Spike put an arm around her shoulder and lead her away from the burning building as they heard sirens in the distance coming to put out the blaze. "You an I are gona be together for many long years, poppet."

*** Present Day ***

"It's funny, the violence the past few days has made me feel more at home here than anywhere else. You recall the night I awakened, killed my parents." Blair picked around her apartment trying to find something.

Spike looked up as she mentioned that night. He had to admit, she was only a fledge and he probably should have stopped her from getting so carried away as she did. But at the time it seemed the right thing to let her do, to cleanse herself of the bastard she called father. "Do you regret it, poppet?"

Blair looked up from a pile she was going though, "killing my da, no I don't regret it. However, my mum was innocent. She could no more stop the abuse on me than the abuse on her, I shouldn't have killed her."

Spike got up and walked over to Blair, "I'm sorry, poppet, I shoulda stopped you before you went that far." Spike knew what it was like to have something like this fester for so long, over 80 years in Blair's case.

Blair shook her head, "no use crying over spilt blood, Spike. Was a long time ago, and I've gotten over it." She brushed some things aside, "help me look here, I'm looking for a looking stone."

"A lookin' stone? Wot for?" Spike asked as he knelt beside her to help anyway.

"I've got a theory as to why Xander tried to rip my throat out, he seems…different to me." Blair said as she pulled a drawer out of a desk and started to rummage though that.

"Wot do you mean 'different'?"

"I dunno, when I first sensed him he seemed normal except for the strings binding the two of you. But, when I sensed him just a moment ago when he attacked me he seemed different. I don't know, more wild." Blair tossed the drawer aside and growled, "If they took my looking stone I'm gona be pissed. You know how much that thing is worth?"

Spike sat back on his heels with a frown, "wild, huh." He got up and dug in his pockets for a cell phone, "I know someone who might know wot yer talkin' about poppet."

Blair looked up from where she sat and watched as Spike dialed a number from memory. He waited for a few seconds before the other end was picked up and he put it on speaker phone, _"Rosenberg Residence of debauchery, this is Willow speaking how can I do you?"_

Hearing the voice on the phone made Blair snicker. Spike couldn't help but smile, "your bird keepin you busy then, eh red?"

"_Oh Spike! It's great to hear from you, where's Xander!"_ they heard the voice on the phone say. Spike wasn't sure she was gona like what he was about to tell her.

"Listen red, we're in New England. I and Xander ran into an ol' friend of mine, a childe. Some shit happened, an Xander tried to rip her throat out when she an I were arguing. She also says Xander feels more 'wild' now than he did before. You got any ideas?" Spike said, getting right to the point.

"_Oh my, wild? Um, there's only one time I can think of that Xander was wilder and that was when he was possessed by a Hyena spirit just after Buffy arrived in Sunnydale. But that was removed around the same time, so I don't know what it could be now." _Willow replied.

Blair shook her head, "no, no, this seems older. What I am sensing in him is almost as old as he is; it's been there for a long time."

Spike rubbed his chin, "is it possible that this spirit has been there with Xander since he was a kid?"

"_It's possible, but short of being able to do a revelation spell on him we can only speculate. For such a spell he'd need to be here or me there."_ Willow explained a little nervously, _"If it has been with him all this time he didn't know, or he would have told me about it."_

"Chances are it was dormant until that whole thing with the Hyena possession, chances are that awoke it and when the counter spell was used it put it back to sleep again." Blair said as she went back to looking again, "that's why I want to find that looking stone, see if we're right."

"_Oh yes, a looking stone would certainly reveal what is hidden. If you have one it'd show you the spirit in him."_ Willow said as she thought.

Meanwhile, the potion which the vampires had given to Xander was slowly wearing off. He slowly came to and watched Blair and Spike talking to some talking voice box. There were two against him, possibly three, and that meant it better to flee and gather a new pack so he'd have numbers on his side. Either way, he would claim his mate back from that she-devil.

Moving as swiftly and silently as he could, he climbed out a nearby window and ran to find suitable carriers for hyena spirits. Neither vampire heard him leave and continued to search for the looking stone.

"As soon as I can I'm going to take Balthazar out and get my company back." Blair mentioned as she threw some things around, there was no use finding such a small stone in this mess.

Spike paused in his search and looked back at her, "wot's that wanker got against you anyway, poppet?"

"Huh? Oh, I dunno! Maybe it's that I'm a girl, maybe it's that I am so much more successful than he is, it could be anything. He may not like the color of my hair for all I know. But I do know he hates me and wants to see me burn." She went back to sorting though debris to find the looking stone, "little does he know I've got a link straight to the big guy."

Spike frowned coming closer to her, "big guy? Wot big guy, you're not talkin' bout god are you?"

Blair giggle-snorted at that and pointed at Spike, "Yeah, you're funny. God… What the hell would I want to talk to him about?" She continued to laugh putting a hand over her mouth, "not god, someone else."

"Well who else is there," Spike asked as he watched her move around.

"There's only one other big guy and he lives down below." Blair mentioned and finally found the small stone. It was about the size of a half dollar and had a hole though the center meant to be where you looked though in order to see things beyond what your own eyes saw.

Spike frowned as he watched her crow with victory at finding the stone; she couldn't actually mean the devil, could she? He shook his head, "right, well now that you found it let's take a look at Xander through it."

Blair nodded looking toward the couch where they had left Xander, "yeah, one problem with that. It'd be nice if we had a Xander to use this on…"

Spike looked up and noticed the couch empty. He rubbed his hand over his face in annoyance, "bollocks, where the hell would he have gone?"

"Probably to make his own pack," Blair mentioned as she put the stone in her pocket and waded her way through the rest of the debris to find some weapons and something they could use to restrain Xander with, "I'm gona take a guess that he wants you as his mate and thinks he's in danger of losing you to me, so he's gona make his own pack and have numbers on his side. We gotta find him and restrain him before he hurts anyone."

"Or someone hurts him, namely Balthazar." Spike mentioned as he took the restrains she offered him.

Blair stopped considering that, "shit, I didn't even think about that. Balthazar would do anything to get his hands on something that he could hold over me… we gotta find him before someone else does." She moved quicker, grabbing what she needed then followed Spike to the door.

(***)

Balthazar had been watching the apartment now for hours, he knew Blair was in there along with her sire and the boy who he knew was her sire's consort. Quite a tight nit family she had, it seemed. He wondered if Angelus would assist if called on for help. He knew of the vampire's soul and wonder if he'd help the very damned creature he helped create.

He put aside his musings when he noticed the boy exit the apartment from a side window. Curious, he followed the youth. He seemed different, somehow, as if something had gotten under the boy's skin and now influenced his actions. Balthazar took a moment to examine the sensations he was getting from the boy closely and realized he was possessed. The demon laughed maliciously, perfect luck that he were to be possessed like this, and on a mission if he could judge by the look of the boy's posture and body language.

"Well this is just perfect, I believe. Let Blair and her sire chase the boy around the city a bit until I have them right where I want them and then strike. I'll end this little feud once and for all, no sense to let it go on any longer." Balthazar turned and looked back at the apartment, noticing the vampires coming out now to follow the runaway. He had little time to prepare. He knew the boy was heading into the city to find younglings susceptible to his influence and possession. It was only a matter of setting up in an area that he knew the hyena spirit would lead him and wait.

(***)

The night was all around him, spurring him on to hunt and claim his mate. Xander had already found two teens from a local school having stayed after for some project or another to possess, they ran behind him, prepared to back him up if and when they encountered trouble. He wanted to find a couple more, best to have numbers on his side when he finally confronted the she-devil who wanted to take his mate from him.

Unfortunately, his mate wouldn't see the logic behind this for the she-devil was of his creation. But once she was out of the way and he was properly claimed he'd see things Xander's way. Now that he had the beginnings of a pack it was only a matter of time before he had a proper following befitting an alpha male of his standing.

First was to lead the night-hunters on a chase though the city for some fun and then face them in a nice wide area, plenty of room to maneuver in. He had no doubt that the two were following him as he considered his options, it was just a matter of setting up in an area best to face them in and wait.

(***)

Spike didn't know where Xander was going, but they already saw the signs of attacks as they passed places the boy had been. Following him by scent wasn't hard, he wasn't even trying to cover his trail and that was disturbing. If Xander wasn't trying to cover his trail, which he knew from experience on the hell mouth was one of the most important things about running from an adversary; that meant he _wanted_ them to follow him.

He didn't bother voicing this revelation to Blair; he knew the girl had already figured this out, he taught her well in the art of the hunt. Passing by a car that had belonged to a student, a huge dent in the side from where someone had crashed into it, they had little doubt his pack was coming together already. They had a good idea where he was going; the boy was circling around a park while hitting places that teens might frequent. It would only be a matter of getting to the park ahead of Xander, setting up their ambush to try and take the boy down before he caused any more harm, and wait.

Too bad plans didn't always go as they are meant to go. Before they could go any farther a man in a suit stepped out of the bushes. His hair was groomed back perfectly and he had the air of a businessman about him. Blair stopped in her tracks, holding onto Spike to get him to stop too. Spike could guess who this probably was, but the single word that left Blair's mouth confirmed it for him, "Balthazar."

The demon smiled, his red pupils glowing in the night, "greetings to you as well Red. I am going to give you one chance to leave this city for good and I won't kill you. I have your company, your minions, and the upper hand. Why not throw in the towel now and cut your losses."

Blair snorted, "Not a chance twinkle toes. I'm getting my company back, my minions back, and my city back. It's just a matter of running you into the ground, again."

Balthazar shook his head, "Tisk tisk, I thought you wouldn't have more common sense than that. You should know when you're beaten Red. Move on, you can't win this one. Not even with your sire at your side." He looked at Spike then, "why don't you talk some sense into her, William. If you really must continue to face me I'll have to go so far as to take out the entire Aurelius bloodline."

Spike pushed Blair behind him. Normally Blair would have been completely offended because she could take care of herself, really she could! But when Spike showed any kind of affection or thoughts of protection over her she got all mushy inside. "Listen here skippy, no one threatens my childe. You're the one that's going down eventually, but if you'll excuse us we've got ourselves a boy to catch."

Balthazar smirked, "Oh yes, the boy. There is something about the boy; you wouldn't want anything to happen to him now would you?"

The look on the vampires' faces was priceless. Hook, line, and sucker. "You touch Xander and I'll cut your hands off, mate."

"Oh, is that all you'll do then? Oh, look at that I'm shaking in my custom tailored shoes." Balthazar laughed at them, "Please, I'm not scared of you two. This is your last chance, leave the city and I won't hunt either of you down."

Before either vampire could advance on him or tell him off the demon disappeared, leaving behind a trail of laughter. The stage was set and now all he had to do was wait…

(***)

When the boy came into the clearing, everything was set up perfectly. Balthazar had the trap set up for Blair, all he would need to do is grab her and the portal would do the rest. He was counting on the boy being such a handful it would keep her sire distracted.

This was a typical maneuver, separate his adversaries and bring them done one at a time. First Blair would fall, then Spike, and then he could consider how to take down their grandsire Angelus. He'd take out the entire Aurelius clan in one swoop and then their Master would have no choice but to finally notice him.

Keeping himself hidden in the treetop he stood in, Balthazar watched as the boy and the four teens that he had possessed laughed and entered the park clearing right under the tree he stood in. They crashed beneath the tree and piled up into a typical sleep pile to wait the arrival of the same vampires who Balthazar awaited.

(***)

Arriving in the park following the scent trail Xander had left, Spike was quick to stop Blair at the edge and look around, "Somethin' doesn't feel right. Almost like…magic is at work here."

"Spike, let's leave the paranoia at behind. He's right there, just a matter of getting him separated from the others he managed to possess and get a collar on him. This thing should take him down a few pegs. After that all you should have to do is dominate him and he'll submit to you and the old Xander will come out." Blair's eyes were darting about, making sure the only ones that were in the clearing were the kids and themselves.

Spike shook his head and patted her shoulder, "let me go first, I'll get this collar around him and get him to submit to me like he should have all along. You stay here; I don't want him tryin to rip your throat out."

Blair nodded and stayed around the edge of the clearing, their look out in case other things came to investigate what was going on. Neither noticed the magic seal that activated the moment Spike crossed it while walking toward the group of humans.

While he did so Balthazar smirked, that would keep them in place while he carried out his plans. Blair wanted to see what Hell was like, he would be more than happy to oblige. No time to enjoy his ingenious thinking at the moment, the rabid teens below were already waking up after sensing the vampire so close.

Spike slowly stalked forward holding up his hands, one holding the collar. He noticed the kids waking up, which in turn woke Xander up. The boy growled and stood his ground as he saw his mate coming forward with a collar. He would not be tamed!

"Easy now Xander, why don't we take this home an talk." Spike offered, best to let the boy choose to come with him first and if that didn't work then he could wrestle him down.

"No way Spike, not back with that she-devil. You're my mate, not hers, and I'm gona make sure you both see that." Xander sounded like he was still the same; just his inhibitions had been loosened up.

Spike cursed, this was just what he needed. He looked at the boy, "Last chance Xander, I don't want to fight you. We have a lot to do and I need you to cooperate with me."

Xander only smirked, giving a look to the four others at his side who understood the unspoken order. They spread themselves out around Spike, preparing to take the stronger vampire down. Spike cursed, this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought, but there was no choice. They needed to hurry up and take Balthazar out before he really did make a move they'd all regret.

Xander and the kids circled around Spike slowly, judging where to pounce first. Xander knew Spike's moves inside and out, this was going to be difficult, especially where Spike didn't want to hurt any of them. Well, that wasn't true the only one he didn't want to hurt was Xander. But if he hurt any of the others Xander would be upset and feeling guilty when he finally came around.

As the group finally stopped circling him, with Xander off to Spike's side, the boy gave a dark smirk before uttering two words he knew the other's heard, "get him…"


	4. Chapter Four: Catching Sin

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I bow to Joss' awesomeness. This was made to honor him and his great characters and for me to have a bloody good time! lol enjoy!

**Catching Me**

**Chapter Four:  
Catching Sin**

_As the group finally stopped circling him, with Xander off to Spike's side, the boy gave a dark smirk before uttering two words he knew the other's heard, "get him…"_

They all moved as one entity, one purpose, jumping from their position and trying to dog-pile Spike. The vampire was powerful, they knew the only chance to take him down for their leader's possession was to catch him off guard and bring him down right away.

Spike was ready for them…

Pushing his arm out, Spike caught one in the midsection and sent them flying back against a tree, the very same tree that held Balthazar. The inner-circle demon watched with great interest, it was too bad he hadn't brought popcorn with him; it was proving to be a most entertaining night. He watched as Spike did the same to one of the other possessed teens; however they simply picked themselves back up, dusted themselves off, and got back into the scuffle. At the moment it was only the four going after him, Xander deciding to wait on the side lines while his newly formed pack wore his future conquest down.

The teens moved like a pack of well organized dogs, Xander growling out commands here or there. In essence they were a pack of dogs, Hyenas to be exact. Spike's only hope was to bring down the leader, Xander, and break the possession over the kids.

Spike began to advance on Xander, fighting off the possessed humans as he walked. However he wasn't making much progress. For every step he took one of the possessed teens attacked and forced him two steps back. This was getting old fast, about time to face Xander head on…right…

"Why don't you face me yourself, you are the alpha male yeah? Or maybe you're just afraid to face a Master Vampire without wearin' 'im down first, afraid you can't win 'less m'handicapped." Spike challenged, damn he hoped he knew what he was doing.

All four of the teens instantly froze in their tracks where they were poised to attack Spike once more and as one their heads swiveled to stare at Xander and await his response. Xander's eyes narrowed and he growled menacingly. How dare his mate challenge him like that, how dare he challenge Xander's courage and power. Well, he would soon find out who was in charge now. Xander walked toward Spike and the others backed down with a look given by their alpha. They moved off to the side, mostly to make sure Spike couldn't escape, while Xander advanced on the master vampire.

As Xander advanced on him he took a moment to look at the kids who had been attacking him. Teens, all of them, he wasn't surprised to find. They were easily manipulated at this age, he should know after all. The moment it looked like Spike was getting the upper hand, no doubt, they'd try to intervene. He'd have to be quick then, make his claim before they could get too close.

Balthazar smirked with glee; this was the moment he was waiting for. The vampire and the human-Hyena hybrid would keep each other busy while he closed in on Blair. That girl was going to burn tonight, finally he would be rid of the little thorn in his side and his master would so enjoy the new company under his control.

Spike smirked at the boy as the two circled each other, "here I thought you'd want to let your underlings bring me down first luv, let them do your job for you."

Xander bared his teeth and growled, "I don't need them to do my job I'll easily bring you down, blondie. You're already mine; you just don't know it yet. Soon as I claim you my pack will be complete. Need a strong mate, after all, and I can't think of anyone better than you."

"Strong words for a puppy-boy. The way I hear it, last time the hyena reared its ugly head the slayer had no trouble putting it down. Should be a piece of cake for me, then." Spike quipped. He needed Xander angry and ready to slip up, he needed to quickly gain the upper hand and make his claim on the boy.

Xander snarled at Spike, "We were young then, inexperienced; I will not be taken down as easily this time."

"We'll see about that, whelp." Spike snarked, and just as he finished speaking Xander lunged at him. Spike easily dodged and prepared to dodge another lung. He wanted Xander mad, more than mad, he wanted Xander pissed. The moment Spike decides his anger is piqued will be Spike's chance to bring the boy down.

Balthazar carefully moved around the perimeter of the seal he'd set up, the markings cleverly concealed. He did not want to get trapped in there with the dog boy and the Aurelius vampire. Of course he had to hurry; the seal would only work as long as the hyena was present. The moment the vampire managed to subdue it and bring the boy back to his senses the seal would vanish.

Blair was right where Spike had left her, watching the scuffle with interest. Had she been paying attention she would have noticed Balthazar getting so close to her and grabbing her by the back of the neck. He smirked as he kept her tightly in his grasp, "it ends tonight," he growled at her before leaving the clearing, Blair in tow.

Spike finally had Xander down, the collar was around his throat Spike only needed to get it buckled but Xander was having none of that. He shook his head trying to keep the collar from being buckled; the hyena knew if it was buckled on he would be pushed aside again. "Get him!" Xander yelled as he desperately tried to keep the collar off of him.

The pack sprung into action a second too late, the collar was already buckled as they grabbed Spike's arms to the side to hold him up above their alpha. Spike didn't struggle this time. The deed was done, and it was only a matter of time. The collar wouldn't hold the hyena down forever, but it would provide enough time for Spike to make a proper claim on it.

The pack, now back to clueless teenagers, started to disperse and go back to the place they last remembered being. Meanwhile, Xander lay beneath him awaiting the vampire's word. Spike smirked as he straddled Xander's hips, now being the only ones left in the clearing. "I'm waiting, vampire. You better finish it before I decide to get up and get the upper hand."

Spike smirked as he started to move around. He took his coat off and sat it to the side, "I think we will have a bit o'fun luv, but I think I want your cock in my ass. You're my puppy-boy after all, mine to use as I please."

Xander's hips jerked at that, since they had been together it always had been Spike in charge, Spike fucking him. Never the other way around and now Xander was getting the chance to put his cock in that delicious ass. He wondered how Spike planned to dominate him like that. Spike unbuckled Xander's pants and pushed it down enough to release his hard, impressive cock.

Spike put a finger on Xander's chest, gaining the other's attention, "don't move, hear me? If I see you move I'll turn you over an just fuck you until you never question who master is again." Xander licked his lips and nodded; any higher brain functions just not possible at the moment. Xander watched as Spike got up enough to unbuckle his own pants and began the slow process of wiggling out of them. Damn but those were tight jeans, how the hell did he pour himself into those anyway? Probably the fact Spike had no circulation to speak of and didn't need to breath. Yeah, that must be it, no circulation and no breath.

Spike easily slipped the jeans down enough to expose his ass and cock, that's about all he needed, and got back onto Xander. Xander was curious what was going to happen, this wasn't the position Spike liked best when he was fucking Xander. His curiosity was placated a moment later as Spike spoke.

"Now, pet, I'm gona use your prick to show you I own every inch of you an can use you however I desire." Spike had the lube in his hand and had already drizzled some over Xander's cock, letting his body heat and gravity go to work coating Xander's cock. It was the warming kind too, and that made Xander buck a little bit. Spike held a finger to his chest, "Ah ah, wot did I say?"

"N-no moving, Master," Xander said as he watched Spike reach behind him and start to finger himself with fingers coated in lubricant. If that wasn't the most erotic sight Xander had ever seen he didn't know what was.

"There's a good pet, remember no moving until I tell you." Spike reached behind him, once he was sure he was ready, and angled Xander's cock to his asshole. Carefully he wiggled to get it situated and then started to set back on it, slowly taking it in inch by inch. The heat was incredible; he should have taken advantage of Xander's prick long ago.

Xander was in agony, the good kind of agony. He so desperately wanted to thrust up into the cool, snug channel that was Spike's ass but he knew to do so would get him in further trouble. The hyena in him wanted to dominate, wanted to see this powerful creature on top of him bear his belly in submission…

But it wanted to be dominated more.

Xander howled as Spike finally settled atop him, his cock buried deep within Spike's ass, and started to buck. Punishment be damned, he was going to give his master the ride of his life. Something inside him was starting to mend, the part of him that had been broken apart ever since that day at the zoo.

Spike smirked as Xander bucked under him, "that's right pet, pleasure me. Mine to use all I want, however I want." Spike mumbled as he moved with Xander, wanting to feel the boy's large prick in his ass as deep as possible. The feel of Xander's huge cock in his ass was amazing, but there was something different about Xander.

Xander finally gave in, bearing his belly and neck up to the vampire above him, "Yours always, master." Spike purred seeing Xander show his belly and his neck. Neither of them was going to last much longer, so he leaned over and buried his fangs into Xander's exposed throat.

Xander cried out his climax, shoving as deeply as possible, and Spike was surprised to feel the head of Xander's cock inside swelling even larger until it was lodged inside. Spike lifted his head and groaned, feeling the huge head rubbing inside. It was pressed right against his prostate and his own cock was leaking because of it. The moment he felt the first shot of cum inside he threw his head back and growled out his own release.

Spike held perfectly still until he finally came down from the high of climax. He shifted and found that Xander's cock was still hard, the head still swollen, inside his ass and still shooting cum. He smirked, now here was something he never imagined Xander being able to do. Of course, with his K-9 spirit in him he shouldn't be all that surprised. Knotting was something K-9's could do, and Xander was undoubtedly knotted inside Spike. He shifted a little to feel the swollen head against his prostate and moaned softly, "fuck, Xander. This is the most erotic thing I've ever felt." Spike shifted again and again moaned when the large head rubbed his prostate just right. He was definitely going to take advantage of this more often.

Xander moaned as well as his knotted cock rubbed inside Spike's friction warmed ass. "I'm glad you enjoy it, Master," Xander said as he relaxed under his master. They were going to be there a while.

"How long do you think it'll last?" Spike asked as he settled in to wait.

"Not too much longer, master." Xander leaned up to nuzzle into Spike's neck affectionately, "almost done cumming, it'll get soft soon."

Spike hmmmed and tilted his head so Xander could show his affection, "good, want to get outa here before we're spotted or something. Don't fancy spendin the night in a holding cell."

Xander couldn't agree more. He wanted to get his vampire alone to show him how sorry he was for how his hyena acted. The moment Xander felt the head of his cock relax he tugged a bit to see if it would move. It came out with a rush of cum that painted the grass below white. Spike groaned as he felt it, "have to make sure we do this again, Xander. I'm gona want to feel that again." He winked at Xander before slowly getting up. His ass hurt, but in a good way. He pulled his pants up and buckled the belt before looking around. He had figured Blair would be all over this, a little live action to enjoy. But he didn't see her anywhere. "Blair?" He called her name and looked around. He decided to open his senses and sniffed. He could smell Xander and the four different scents of the teens Xander had possessed. He could smell Blair where she had been standing just on the edge of the clearing, but he also smelled another scent, a very familiar scent that he had smelled only moments before this all happened.

He smelled Balthazar.

Growling, Spike looked over at Xander who was just now getting up, "do you smell that? That smell of fire an brimstone?"

Xander looked around; his senses now were as sharp as ever with the hyena now working with him instead of against him. Somehow with what Spike did tonight had granted Xander the control he'd been fighting for ever since that day at the zoo. He opened his senses, going past normal sight and sound, and sensed what Spike was smelling. He could see the paths of scents, the different directions the owners of those scents had gone. Each was a different color, a color he associated with each owner. He saw the four trails of the teenagers he'd possessed, each a different color for the different teen. He also saw a trail for Blair, this one was a crimson red color and very easy to follow.

Then Xander spotted the trail which Spike had mentioned, the trail that smelled of fire and brimstone. He almost recognized this scent, but he couldn't place it. This trail looked black and decayed. He looked at Spike waiting for the vampire to confirm what he was thinking.

"Must be Balthazar, fuck. An Blair is nowhere in sight." Spike took a moment to assess the situation. They had no idea where the bastard had taken her, and so they needed help. As much as Blair didn't want him to, he was going to have to call Angel. He and his sire had already patched things up before, and Angel had extended invitation to him if he ever needed help. "C'mon pet, we're going back to her flat an' givin' peaches a call."

Xander could only nod as he followed Spike away from the clearing, the clearing he'd gotten royally fucked in, and worry about the implications here. Balthazar was one of the devil's generals, his higher-ups, what would such a being want with someone like Blair?

They returned to the flat without incident, Xander following behind closely like a faithful puppy dog. Spike had that to worry about as well, training Xander's hyena to work with the boy. For now, they had to concentrate on finding Blair before something happened. She was still alive, Spike was sure about that. Had she been killed he would have felt it.

It was just as he was picking up the phone when Xander noticed a note stuck to the outside of the door to Blair's flat. She took it down and started to read it while Spike got Angel on the phone.

"Yeah, Peaches, it's me. Look, we've got a bit of a problem." Spike knew it'd probably be better to be up front with Angel, or they wouldn't get any help at all.

"_Of course, Will, you wouldn't call for anything else." _Angel wasn't as perturbed as he was trying to sound. He just wanted his childe to treat him as sire and respect him. Of course the chances of Spike respecting anyone were slim.

"It's Spike, and it has to do with Blair. You know, my childe." Spike said as he tried to get Angel's full attention. There was a curious pause before Angel finally spoke.

Angel was busy remembering the first time he'd ever seen Blair, chances were Spike knew nothing had ever happened between him and Blair. Chances were if Spike knew of any of it his childe would never forgive him. The events flashed into his mind so quickly he had no chance to stop them.

(***)

Missoula, Montana  
February 14, 1935

Blair wasn't sure what she was doing so far west, it was nothing like her New England. Ever since being turned she had spent time off and on with Spike and Drusilla. Drusilla was nice enough to her but she found striking out on her own to see the world as well was fun. She had just left Spike recently who was on his way to Greece with Drusilla, something about the stars wanting her to see Athens or something. She was going in the opposite direction wanting to see the rest of the country instead.

Blair didn't plan to stay away from her sire long; she loved her sire and wanted to be with him as much as possible. He was good to her as well, teaching her everything she needed to know to survive as a vampire. So far she had sired many minions on her own to keep in contact with her sire. The plan was to meet him on the other side of the world in Germany once she had finished her own explorations.

Blair stopped in a park on her way back to her room for the day. She was planning to leave tomorrow night for Germany, she missed Spike something awful. But first she'd stalk some prey and have a full belly to sleep on. She pulled out the letter Spike had sent her early enough that it'd reach her today, St. Valentines Day. She smiled as she rubbed the beautiful silver locket he'd sent her in with the letter. The letter itself was beautiful, and full of poetry. She never said anything, and he kept writing poetry for her and Drusilla. The only two people he'd ever write for.

A small smile spread across her lips as she looked at the written words on the paper. Soon, she would hear the words for real spoken from his mouth. She'd convince him to say a few lines for her, and then swear to never tell anyone lest he break her legs. She loved it when he was romantic.

Stuffing the letter and envelope back into her jacket, she kept the locket out and opened it up to see small pictures of himself and Drusilla inside. That was the best part in her opinion, both her sire and grandsire in the locket to keep close.

She didn't hear as a figure got closer as she tried to clasp the back of the necklace around her neck. Thankfully she'd gotten it hooked when the voice spoke up, "need help with tha' lassy?"

Blair jumped and turned to see this new being. She didn't know who it was so she let her instincts take over and tell her what was going on. It told her a lot; this was an old vampire, older than her by far. She concentrated and was stunned to realize he was an older vampire of her line, the line of Aurelius.

Regardless of whom this was she kept on her guard, "Who are you?" Her own Irish accent had slimmed out by now; she started to prefer to speak properly. She'd never say but it was her own way of trying to show Spike she was smart and worth his time.

The tall, dark and handsome man advanced on her. "Do you no' know who I am?" When she shook her head he laughed and this laugh actually scared her, HER a vampire who'd seen and killed so many people already in her 12 years of unlife. "I am Angelus, lass."

Her demon clamored at that, Spike had told her about Angelus many times. The demon within her yelled at her to kneel before her great-grandsire, to show respect. However, her brain told her to keep backing up and look for any escape route possible.

"I see ye have heard about me, lassy. Ye smell of William, ye do. It's too bad I canno' find Drusilla, she's no doubt callin for daddy now. But, tha's alright, gona make me a new project now." Angelus never stopped advancing on Blair, never stopped stepping closer and closer to her.

"And, what new project might that be?" She was backed into a tree, she could go no further.

Angelus smirked, ever since his soul had a hiccup a few days ago he had been free to do as he wished while the soul gathered strength again. Now, he was going to have some fun while he could. He ran a finger down her cheek, grinning as she hitched away, "William always did like to leave his toys layin' about, tha's a good way to get them broken."

Blair wanted to run, wanted to shove this vampire away and run as fast as she could. Spike had warned her about Angelus and if she were to ever run into him. She was no fool; she was a young vampire who was still learning about her own powers. There was no way she'd be able to take on a vampire so much older than her as Angelus was. As it was her demon was near forcing her to submit. Only her strong will was keeping her from doing such a thing.

She finally came to a conclusion though, one that her demon had no choice but to agree with. Spike wouldn't want her to bow to Angelus, the loser. He wouldn't want her to bow to anyone but Spike, he wouldn't want her to call anyone daddy but Spike. She smiled inwardly at some of the memories she had about their play; she couldn't wait to do that again.

However, this was a point her demon had to agree on so it went silent. Blair turned angry green eyes on Angelus and, as the vampire obviously wasn't expecting it, hit him with a nice right hook.

Angelus went down, and it gave her enough time to get a few feet away. However, Angelus was faster and knocked her to the ground, grabbing onto one of her ankles. "You no' get away so easily lass, soon ye'll be callin me Daddy instead of William. Show him to respect his elders…"

"I don't think so, caveman brow!" Blair kicked her free foot, landing it square in Angelus' face and grinned when she heard a nice crunch as she broke his nose. She scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could, she wouldn't give him another chance to grab her again tonight.

Angelus watched as his quarry got away, he'd get her eventually. He smirked; she'd be his new project yet. "Ye can' run forever lassy! Eventually I'll get ye, an William will come crawlin back to me." Blair didn't look back.

*** Present Day ***

Angel had a lot to make up for with her, so there was no question in his mind he would help. _"What's happened?"_

Spike spent the next few moments explaining about what had happened, with Balthazar and Blair's misfortune with the demon. It was Xander's presence at his elbow that made him pause, "hold on a tick, peaches."

"I found this on the door, Spike. It's from him." Xander said as he handed the note over. There was no need to explain who 'him' was as Spike understood. It was from Balthazar. The note itself was a short rambling note common to megalomaniacs, he was going to kill her blah blah blah, he was going to take over her empire blah blah blah.

"Right, new development Peaches. Note says he's gona kill her tonight and take over her companies and become more powerful than the wolf, the ram, or the hart combine. Wot's that suppose to mean. And I've got another question for you Peaches, wot the fuck did you do to my childe? When I mentioned contacting you in the first place she was adamant we not bring you into this." Spike wanted answers and he wanted them now, he was tired of being left in the dark.

"_We don't need to talk about that right now, Will, its very compl-"_

"SPIKE! It's Spike, Peaches. And we damn well do need to talk about it right now. She was fuckin terrified of you being involved." Spike waited, he was going to get answers out of Angel tonight.

"_Look, Spike, it's very complicated. I will tell you everything in time. First let's concentrate on locating Blair and preventing whatever Balthazar has planned. I think I may be able to help. I have a feeling that Balthazar has a connection to the senior partners of Wolfram and Hart." _ Angel said as he considered what to do next, _"I think I may have access to records and information on her business. Chances are her company has done business with Wolfram and Hart. Give me a bit of time to locate those documents. In the meantime locate a map of the area, I'll give you addresses to mark that are buildings her company owns."_

"Fine, but I better be getting some answers soon. You better call back," Spike said as he stood there.

"_I will, Spike. Stay by the phone and I'll call as soon as I've located the documents."_ Angel did his best to comfort his childe before hanging up.

While Spike waited for the call from Angel he rummaged around in Blair's apartment for whatever might be helpful. They found a slew of weapons left over and he packed them in a weapons bag before handing it off to Xander, telling the boy to pack it in the trunk of their car. He did the same with other supplies and things he knew his childe wouldn't want just left behind. He set Xander to the tasks of having the bags packed in the car and searched in Blair's fridge. He found blood packets in the bottom, all with the logo of her company on them. He grabbed a few to heat up for himself and started to search though what looked to be her desk.

Finding a computer he cleared all the documents off of it and sat down. He got to work breaking into her computer, perhaps he could find information to help on it. The first few documents he brought up didn't amount to much. He then decided to try the internet, it never failed him before. He typed in the name of her company to see what it would bring up.

Spike was floored when he found the official website of her company, obviously done up by a professional. Chances were she ate a professional web designer and made him a minion. He wouldn't put such a thing past her. He read though the description of her company and didn't know what to make of the information there. It turns out her company was in the business of developing artificial blood for hospitals and clinics. This made absolutely no sense to Spike, Blair hated humanity with a passion and wouldn't do anything to help it. Unless it was all a cover for her true goal, develop artificial blood sources for vampires to drink so they weren't dependent on human or animal blood sources.

Spike shook his head, she was preparing for something. Something very big and he was worried what it might be. He clicked on another page and noticed the heading "change in management" and snorted. Balthazar wasted no time, as arrogant as he was. Spike clicked off the computer and looked at the heated blood bags on the table, obviously the blood was safe for vampire consumption or she wouldn't have it in her fridge. Carefully picking one up he bit into a corner and started to drink right from the bag before pulling back to stare at the bag, "bloody hell, this stuff is fucking brilliant. Bloody ambrosia, it is." Spike wasted no time draining the rest of the bag and the other he'd heated.

Spike jumped as the phone rang, he was turning into a real ponce now. He picked it up, knowing who was on the other line, "right, wot did you find?"

Angel rolled his eyes at his childe's antics, he couldn't help but feel as though he missed it all regardless. _"I have documents telling me the location of her office buildings. Do you have that map?"_

"Yeah, I've got the map," Spike said and looked to Xander who quickly cleared off the kitchen table and laid the map out. He handed a marker to Spike who took it with a 'ta' and stood over it, "right, fire away."

Angel quickly rattled off six locations across the city while Spike marked the places on the map. He stood back once the places were marked and Angel sat the pages down, _"you'll have to do a scrying spell to find the exact location but that should narrow it down considerably."_

Spike paused a moment to take in the locations on the map and uttered a 'bloody hell' as he continued to mark on the map. "No need for that scrying spell, Peaches. Think I know right where he took her." Spike drew line after line, connecting the locations on the map, and when he was done it somehow formed a pentagram across the city with one building right smack in the middle. That couldn't be coincidence. "Bloody hell, he's gona open a new hellmouth."


	5. Chapter Five: Catching Anguish

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I bow to Joss' awesomeness. This was made to honor him and his great characters and for me to have a bloody good time! lol enjoy!

**Catching Me**

**Chapter Five:  
Catching Anguish**

Kyoto, Japan  
February 13, 1970

Blair sat up straighter as her sensei walked around her. She was supposed to be meditating and learning to calm the demon within, but her mind was elsewhere. She had only recently split from Drusilla and Spike to pursue training here in Japan in order to calm her raging demon and control her bloodlust. She had been putting them in unnecessary risks with her indiscriminant kills. It was unacceptable, and she missed Spike, her sire, so much.

A folded fan found its target on the top of her head as the man stopped, speaking to her in Japanese "your mind, elsewhere it is. I can sense it. Your mind wonders too much, thinks too much about the future or about where you could be. Your mind never on where you are, what you are doing."

"Yes, sensei, I try." Blair replied to the old man. Japanese was easy to learn, and she had picked it up within her first month there. She was currently learning other demonic languages present on the island nation and learning sword techniques along with the meditation techniques needed to calm her demon.

"Not enough, obviously. Your sire, I sense your thoughts straying to so often. Isn't this true?" The man asked. He looked to only be in his 20's but she knew better. This was one of the oldest demons in history, and his name was Yuki.

Blair could have lied, could have denied what the man knew was true, but that wouldn't get her anywhere. She had learned that the hard way. "Yes, sensei."

The man turned to look at her, his unusual blonde hair moved in the breeze and he brought the fan down on her head again, "stupid you are. He will still be there when you return. He is not helping you now." Blair couldn't help but growl at any derogatory remark made about her sire. He was a good man, even if he did neglect her once in a while in favor of taking care of Drusilla. But really who could fault him? Drusilla needed his care more often than not what with her loony state. Blair dealt with it, and usually Spike found time for her once Drusilla was seen to. Yuki shook his head in disgust, "vampires, think they own the world they do."

Yuki sensed her approaching him from behind, saw the glint of moonlight off a blade, and turned to intercept her. His own katana slid from its scabbard with ease and sliced Blair before returning to its sheath with just as much ease, "you still have much to learn, youngling." Blair collapsed to the ground, hand held over her midsection to keep as much blood in as possible, and turned her head as Yuki spoke, "that is all for today, see the healer and continue your meditations." He then left her where she knelt in the grass, pale moon light accentuating her near-translucent skin.

*** Present Day ***

Blair awoke with a pounding headache, not unusual as she liked to spend her nights drinking and trying to forget. Trying to forget how often Spike neglected her in favor of taking care of or impressing Drusilla. Always trying to be better than 'Daddy' and never realizing that he'd never be as good as Daddy in Drusilla's eyes. Never seeing that Blair saw Spike as her idol and worshipped if not the ground he walked on then the very words he spoke. But that'd never get her anywhere, hence her trip to Japan in the early 70's. Her plan, for all the wrong reasons she made it, was to gain control of her demon in record time and be as strong as a master as she could get to impress Spike and show him how much more deserving she was than Drusilla of his attention.

Blair hung her head, it wasn't enough even then. She was never enough for Spike. Just as she was never a good enough daughter for her father she was never a good enough childe for Spike. What was wrong with her? Now Spike sought the attention of a human boy over her. Granted, Blair did like this boy. Xander seemed very sweet indeed and deserving of attentions lavished on him. But surely now that time had passed Spike could divide his attentions between Xander and herself. Perhaps if she could only confront Spike with her feelings he would finally understand and he would be proud of her.

But why would he be proud of her when she couldn't deal with her own emotions and had to run to sire every time. Blair closed her eyes and hung her head, she was worthless. She was a worthless daughter, and now she was a worthless childe.

"Such despair I sense in you. It is probably the story told throughout the pathetic Aurelius line. The childe never deserving of the attention of their sire because the sire is always too busy fighting for attention from their sire. It really is so pathetic; Master Aurelius should have never begun the bloodline. He was so young himself; he probably didn't know what he was doing in the first place." Balthazar paced around Blair as he spoke, dropping candles here and there and lighting them with a flick of a wrist. Blair took notice, not bothering to care he was opening a hellmouth directly under where she hung. The fires of hell would probably gobble her up in an instant. All the better, end her pathetic existence where her sire didn't even care enough to rescue her.

"Balthazar, what do you want with me?" She mumbled, paying only slight attention where the other demon moved.

"It really is a sorry state of affairs, Red. Perhaps if you had another sire things might not have-"

"Balthazar, you are going to get to a point sometime tonight right?" Blair interrupted as Balthazar finally stopped in front of her.

Balthazar eyed her; it seems she had already given up. All the better, he didn't need a big fight from this pathetic excuse for a vampire. He wanted to end it once and for all and take possession of this company.

"We're going to end this feud, Red. Really I'll be killing 3 birds with one stone. I will get you out of the way, a new hellmouth will be open so my master can come and go as he pleases, and I will gain control of a company that will become a major power. Wolf, Ram, and Hart aren't the only ones that can command a great power. Soon I will be just as strong and when the coming fire arrives things will be a little different." Balthazar turned from her to finish the ritual to open a new hellmouth.

"Yippy, just get on with it will you? The sound of your voice is grating on my nerves. Like nails on a chalk board." Blair quipped, wishing she could at least have one last drink before she died. Make things pleasantly numb and fuzzy around the edges. Maybe when she was having her orientation of Hell they'd serve her a few Bloody Maries.

"It really is too bad I don't have slayer blood to do this, it would be much more powerful and open a bigger door. But your blood will have to do." Balthazar said as he approached Blair with a long ceremonial dagger, a ceremonial dagger she recognized. How the hell that poser had gotten possession of the Aurelius line ceremonial dagger was beyond her.

*** (Meanwhile) ***

Xander tugged at the collar around his neck as he followed Spike toward the building on the map that was in the center of the huge pentagram. It looked ordinary enough, if the red sheen to it was ordinary.

Spike turned to look at Xander, "They'll probably be in the basement then, closer to ground the better." He noticed Xander playing with the collar and slapped at his hands, "stop that, don't make me lock it on you whelp."

Spike could have sworn he heard Xander whimper when he slapped the boy's hands away from the collar. He did not need Hyena Xander running lose at a time like this. They both had to keep their wits about them. It was more than just stopping a new hellmouth from forming. His childe was in there and that bastard who hurt her was going to pay. Okay, so he wasn't exactly sire of the year here. But Blair was his damnit and he wasn't going to let her go without a fight.

Xander sniffed around a moment and noticed the scent trail and tugged at Spike's coat. Spike shrugged and decided to follow the boy, after all he was a bloodhound now. The scent trail led them to a open door leading into a parking garage. "I smell candles burning," Xander said as he led Spike around cars and toward a door on the far side of the parking garage.

"Shit, he's started the ceremony. We have to get in there an stop it now or we're all in trouble. Peaches said he was coming but it'll be another couple hours before he arrives. " Spike spoke softly, he didn't know exactly how well the demon could hear and he did not want them to lose their element of surprise.

"What if he's already opened the hellmouth?" Xander asked as they crouched behind a BMW.

"We would know if he did, luv. We'd be smellin fire an brimstone comin' from the hellmouth opening if the ceremony was finished. Right now we only smell candle flames. Let's go, we don't have much time if he's started." Spike quickly checked around the garage, making sure no minions were about, before dashing across the space between the BMW and the door.

Trying the knobs Spike realized the doors were locked. "Fuck, just wot we need." Spike backed up a couple of steps and then put his boot in the middle of one door. The door went flying off its hinges, granting them access to the room beyond.

Stepping into the room Spike and Xander were greeted with the sight of Blair hanging suspended above a pentagram, bleeding from a long gash in her chest. Blood dripped down her torso, past her hips, and down her legs. Blood dripped from the end of her toes to the pentagram below. Each drop adding to the red glow of the lines and markings until they took on an other-worldly aspect. The entire room felt muddled and dream like.

Balthazar noticed their presence just as he finished reciting the incantation and laughed, "You are too late, the incantation is complete. Welcome to the new hellmouth."

Blair raised her head, her green eyes dull and lifeless as if she did not care anymore. However, seeing the sight of her sire standing there as if ready to pound Balthazar into the next world brought a little life back to them. "Sire…y-you came for me?"

"Yeah I did poppet, I wouldn't leave you of course. I would never have turned you if you didn't mean something to me." Spike said, and meant it. Xander was his consort and the love of his unlife. But Blair was his childe and he would never abandon her.

Life returned to Blair's eyes, her sire did care and came for her. The least she could do was fight. The light in Blair's eyes took on a harder edge as she glared in Balthazar's direction who was celebrating victory far too early. With a mighty tug the chains broke from the beam holding them and Blair slung the loop around Balthazar. "If I'm going to hell, I'm taking you with me!" Blair tugged until Balthazar was in the pentagram with her.

Balthazar could only laugh as he was tugged in position with Blair, "fool, I was born in hell!"

Blair smirked, getting right in the other demon's face, "yeah, but you weren't the only one born down there."

Balthazar wasn't too terribly frightened; however Blair did seem sure of herself. He could only imagine what she was thinking of. Demons were born in hell daily, it was common knowledge. What could possibly be down there to give her such confidence that she'd have an edge over Balthazar?

None of them had the chance to contemplate her meaning as the ground beneath the two opened up, bathing them in a red light and swallowed them whole. The hole in the ground remained, giving the room a red glow and signaling this was the beginning of something new for Boston.

Without thinking Spike grabbed Xander's hand and they ran for the portal. For Xander's part he followed Spike without fear. He'd lived on a hellmouth all his life. He couldn't find it in himself to fear it now. Besides that, he knew Spike would protect him.

Leaping into the abyss they felt intense heat pouring off of the sides and fire light so bright it nearly blinded them. Spike was careful to keep his limbs tucked close to himself, he had no doubt that even though they were traveling to hell, the fire would burn him just as it did on the earth plane.

The fire became almost unbearable until finally they landed in hell. Even though it didn't look like hell, even though it looked like the regular world but more corroded, Spike knew they were in hell.

"I don't get it, it looks like the regular world," Xander said as he got up and dusted himself off. He sniffed around to try to pick up any scent trails but all he could smell was fire and brimstone. Their noses would not help them here.

"Don't worry, luv. This is hell alright. We're about to meet the welcome committee." Spike nodded toward corrupt little demons crawling toward them. They looked like corpses brought to life.

"Oh gross, Resident Evil revisited." Xander quipped, putting his back to Spike's back so they couldn't be attacked from behind.

"Luv, I'll have you know I resemble that remark." Spike put up his own defense stance, these little things weren't going to give them a break that was for sure.

"Oh, right, no offence blondie bear." Xander smirked, he loved calling Spike that. Mostly because of the reaction it got him.

"I told you _never_ to call me that, whelp." Spike growled as he snapped the neck of the closest demon.

Xander grabbed one getting too close to them and ripped its head off, "but it suites you so well. Besides, if I call you that enough maybe you'll change your hair style."

"Wot, you're saying you don't like my hair now?" Spike almost sounded offended but Xander knew it was just a put on. As soon as they had killed the first two demons the others attacked in force and it was all they could do to keep them off.

Xander focused on taking down his demons before replying to the response, "I never said that, Spike. I just said maybe you'd change things up a bit. I mean, let's be honest. You've had that hair style for how long now? 30+ years?"

Spike had to concede that point to the boy, he'd been sporting the bleached look since the mid 70's. Ever since Blair left, actually. He'd always thought it was because he wasn't tough enough of a sire for her so he'd resolved to toughen up and show her what a badass he could be. He knew better though, when they got out of this he'd consult Blair and Xander first, get their opinion on the matter before making a decision. He wanted something that would make them both happy. From what he understood about Xander any change would be a good change.

Finishing the last demon off Spike raised his hands in surrender, "Right, got it luv. You win that one; we'll talk more 'bout my outdated look after we get the fuck out of here. "

"Yeah, that's a good idea. Ya know I'm not even saying change dramatically; stay punk but newer punk may be a good idea. Keep the leather, cause god I love you in leather."

Spike smirked as he looked Xander over, found a fetish he did. The boy loved leather and chains, he could handle that. "We'll talk 'bout it later, I said. Let's catch up an see if we can't take care of this tosser who thinks he can take my childe away then get the fuck out of here."

"I agree. Hell seems nice and all, nice place to visit. But I wouldn't want to live here, the smell is horrible." Xander quipped as he followed behind Spike.

"Ditto, luv." Spike said as he ran down the road. They couldn't have gotten far. More demons crawled out of the cracks to stop them but they needed only to dodge the grubby hands and keep running. From the look of it many lesser demons were making their way toward one spot to watch a big fight going on. Spike could guess that was where they'd find Blair and Balthazar.

When they arrived they were greeted with an amazing sight. Blair fighting with her all against Balthazar never mind the gash on her chest. Her hair flew wildly around her from the wind being whipped up from the flames. The damnable thing of it, Blair was winning. She had a reason to fight, her sire did care about her and she was putting every skill, every technique, every bit of training she'd ever received into the fight to finish Balthazar off once and for all.

At one point she managed to trip Balthazar up and his face bashed against the side of a broken down car. When he rose again they saw the corrupt demon beneath the human shell. The grin he gave her was completely rotten, "I love getting back to the basics."

Blair punched him on the other side of his face, attempting to even up the damage, "then you'll love going back to where you came from."

"You should join me, Red." As Blair threw another punch he grabbed it and pulled her close to him. He licked up the side of her neck and laughed darkly, "When I'm done with you, you won't be recognizable."

"Ew, groseville! Get off me you Resident Evil Reject." Blair quipped, trying to break free of Balthazar's hold. She did not like that glowing red ring forming around them.

"Ha! Nice Resident Evil reference." Xander shouted. All the demons around him, Spike included, turned to just stare at the boy. Xander shrugged, "What, I like Resident Evil…." When they continued to stare at him he shrugged, "okay, I'll shut up now."

Spike turned back in time to watch another hole open up below Blair and swallow her up. He could only guess this went down to the inner rings of hell. He scrambled to get over the many lesser demons to get to the last place he saw Blair standing. He could still save her! He could still get to her!

Xander grabbed Spike's arm and pulled at him, "come on Spike, we have to go now! The portal will be closing soon as we'll be stuck in here too!"

"NO, I can still save her! I can get to her!"

"Spike, she fell down another portal. We can't get to her or we'll be trapped in here too. We have to get to the surface so we can help her." Xander tried to reason with Spike, but with the way he was determinedly clawing his way toward the second portal Xander wasn't sure he'd be able to hear reason.

"We can't leave her!" Spike rounded on Xander, getting in the boy's face. He was not leaving his childe again.

"We aren't doing her any good here. If we can get to the surface we might have a chance to call her out of hell with the right spell. But if we get trapped in here too we're just as screwed as she is." Xander prayed Spike listened this time; he didn't really want to become a permanent resident down here.

Spike heard what Xander said and admitted the boy was right. He couldn't let Xander get stuck down here. He nodded a moment, "you go, go up and tell Peaches what happened. I'm staying. I can't leave her again."

"Spike, I need you to get out. I don't know if I can fight these demons off myself. And we won't be leaving her. The moment we escape we'll find a way to get her out of hell I promise." Xander pulled Spike around so they were eye to eye. Xander saw the moment Spike cracked and caved, because the vampire looked away. Spike nodded, agreeing with what Xander said, and they begun the tedious task of fighting their way back to where the portal was.

Thankfully it was still open but wouldn't remain so for very long. Forcing themselves to endure the return trip they came back out in the same parking garage they had left from. Spike saw Angel driving down the entrance ramp toward them; he could see the smoke pouring off his body and Xander's body in the car's headlights. That was one hot ride, and Angel's car wasn't bad either.

Xander got up from Spike's side to flag Angel down while the vampire crouched on the ground. He'd failed, Blair was dead and it was because of him. Spike closed his eyes, how could he let his childe fall like that? It was inexcusable, but he was determined to get her back. One way or another, he would have his childe back with him and never let her go.

Xander looked back as Angel came to a stop by them. The look on Spike's face broke his heart. One way or another they would have Blair back, and he would make sure both vampires had the chance to be together once again. But if she thought he'd give Spike up that easily, she'd have another thing coming.


	6. Chapter Six: Catching Redemption

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I bow to Joss' awesomeness. This was made to honor him and his great characters and for me to have a bloody good time! lol enjoy!

**Catching Me**

**Chapter Six:  
Catching Redemption**

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  
July 4, 1976

On her way back to a land she held most dear, Blair sighed as she stopped in Philadelphia for the Bicentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. There was nowhere better to celebrate this particular holiday, and before returning to New England for a time Blair decided to celebrate here.

After dropping out of contact with her sire, Spike, for a few years she was eager to meet up with him again. She had spent the first part of the 70's in Japan, learning how to control her demon and the bloodlust she had been so desperate to control. To Spike she had just been a fledge, not able to control herself and killed indiscriminately. Now, however, she'd show him how much she had grown as a vampire. How controlled she was, and how strong she had become.

Her plan was quite simple; the village idiot could pull it off. She'd arrive in New York where she had planned to meet with him again, kick his ass royally to show she was worth his time, and have hot bloody sex that a sire and childe shared more often than not. Maybe she'd get him pissed off enough to torture her a while, force her to submit to him. All of which she'd never say she'd do willingly for him just to have the thrill of being shown who's boss.

Blair gazed at the desk that held Benjamin Franklin's name, pondering what the man might say if he were alive today and saw all the modern inventions people took for granted now. Electricity, automobiles, music…Oh she loved her music. When Spike had sent word he was eager to see her again he also introduced her to the wonder that was British Punk Rock. It was just the kind of music a rebel girl like her wanted. She wondered what Benjamin Franklin would say about music like that…

Blair suddenly felt a chill run down her back, as if someone had dropped an ice cube down the back of her shirt. She had not sensed the being walk into Independence Hall behind her. It was night, all tours had been stopped for the day and no one else was around. She had knocked out the guard before entering to pay her respects to those who had once used this hall to found the country she called home. That may have been her biggest mistake.

"Fancy another go, lassy?" Blair heard a very familiar Irish accent behind her that brought the icy cold clenching fist of fear to her chest. It had been 53 years since she was turned, and she didn't fear much anymore. Especially not since returning from Japan, her control and strength had leapt decades ahead in skill. But that did not stop her from fearing the vampire that now stood behind her not ten feet away.

Without turning she stood completely still; she had to gauge exactly where her pursuer was, to gauge how much time she might have to bolt for a window or door. "Angelus, what brings you to Philly?"

There was that creepy laugh that she hated, hated because it caused her to shiver and he knew it. "Whot happen to yer accent lass? I quite enjoyed listenin' to your pretty voice, looked forward to hearin' it as you screamed." She heard him take a step forward, she did not move.

"I'm American, naturalized citizen a long time ago Angelus." She didn't call him by his other names, she was no fool this was the demon Angelus. Somehow the soul must have had another hiccup and allowed the demon take control.

"Is that so, ye got a big fancy title now. Naturalized Citizen, it won' make a difference when I'm breakin ye girl." Angelus snarled and Blair bolted the moment he finished his sentence, jumping for the window not 5 feet away.

Angelus was faster; something wrapped around her legs and near broke her ankles. She fell flat on her face and only had enough time to turn to see what had tripped her up. It was a rope with stones tied to the ends. Clever bastard…She frantically tried to kick the rope off her ankles when Angelus came to her side.

Angelus strode over to where his prey had fallen, he was in no hurry. She was like a stag in his trap, too scared to think straight enough to remove the ropes even though they were merely wrapped around her legs. Angelus grabbed her by the throat and pulled her up until her feet no longer touched the ground. He grinned, "I see ye growin yer beautiful red hair out, tha's good. Much prettier with it long an in beautiful curls, I'll even braid it for you."

Blair didn't try to talk; she knew she couldn't with Angelus' grip on her throat crushing her windpipe. Vampires didn't need to breathe anyway, but she didn't like it just the same. Blair began to kick her feet, trying desperately to get away. But with both her feet tied together there was no way she'd be able to kick out or anything.

She felt a loop in the rope, a lose coil. Luck was on her side after all. She began to pull her right foot, trying to dislodge it from the bindings and fight back. "Don' worry a mhuirnín, I'll take good care of ye when yer broken."

Blair lifted her lip in a snarl, over her dusted body. She pulled her foot free of the bindings around her ankles and brought her right knee up. She knew it hurt, she knew Angelus was in a lot of pain by the look on his face as she brought her knee right up into his balls hard. Angelus dropped her and he fell over. Blair made quick work of the rope still around her left ankle and ran.

She lost on pride running from a vampire so much older than herself; it was that or submit to him and start calling him daddy. She shook her head; she'd _never_ call him daddy. Blair heard Angelus' voice calling after her as she ran from the building. She had to find a phone fast.

Running down the street as fast as she could she didn't stop until she had a good amount of distance between her and where she had left Angelus at Independence Hall. She ran to the first payphone she saw and stepped inside, closing the door behind. She fumbled around in her pocket for some coins. She became frustrated and punched the side of the payphone, the change inside spilling out. She grabbed up a few coins and quickly put them though the slot after putting the receiver to her ear.

She dialed the number quickly and was relieved when she heard the voice on the other end. "Wot do you want?"

"Spike…" Her voice was shaky and she knew he heard it; she cursed herself for being so weak.

"Poppet? Wot's wrong, where are you?" The moment Spike had heard her voice, especially the quiver in it, he'd been brought to attention.

"I…" Blair looked around, thinking she had heard something. She heard Spike on the phone, yelling for her to tell him where she was what was going on. She put the phone back to her ear. "Spike, where are you right now?"

"Poppet, wot…New Jersey, we're in New Jersey luv. Wot is goin on!" Spike seemed to get louder and louder as Blair wouldn't tell him what had happened.

"What city are you in, Spike?" She frantically looked around, New Jersey wasn't that far away, if he was in a close enough city she'd be able to hop the train and be there within the hour.

"Bridgeport," Spike sounded frustrated, "where are you." He forced each word, trying to get Blair to tell him.

"I…" Blair paused to once again look around to make sure Angelus hadn't followed her, "I'm in Philly."

She heard rustling on the other end as Spike got up and got moving, "I'll come get you, where are you at luv?"

Blair shook her head, "no, no I'll get there myself. Just meet me after I cross the river."

Spike didn't like the tone in her voice, something had obviously shaken his childe and he was going to find out what. "Alright luv, alright I'll meet you just on the other side of the river. Get here quick yeah, I wana hear 'bout Japan."

Blair smiled a little, listening to Spike's voice. "I can't wait to tell you, I picked up a few things for Drusilla while I was there."

"Oh bollocks, she's gona go bloody bonkers over you. Y'know that luv?" there was amusement in his voice though, and Blair relaxed. His voice got a little lower as he spoke, "I missed you, y'know."

Blair nodded, not that he could see, "I know, I missed you too." Quickly saying their goodbye's she hung up and ran from the phone booth as fast as she could. She hailed a taxi that was just coming back on duty to take her to the bridge south of Philadelphia that led to Bridgeport. She couldn't wait to see Spike again and feel safe in his arms.

*** Present Day ***

Angel stood looking out the large necro-tinted windows to the city of LA below. Working for Wolfram and Hart did have its advantages. For instance unlimited resources to do what he had to do. But even that was not enough to get him to Boston fast enough to help Blair, the young vampire whom he had terrorized twice in the past. It wasn't only his guilt that drove him to help by whatever means. She was family, and family was most important to him. She was Spike's childe and he'd already wronged Spike enough he did not want to tell Spike how he'd wronged his childe.

Angel covered his face with a large hand, he couldn't help but think about the last time he'd seen Blair. It was just after he and Buffy had made love and released Angelus. Angelus seemed hell-bent on killing Buffy and taking Drusilla that he'd not paid much attention to Blair when she was there. He remembered her begging Spike to join her in New England where he could heal as the vampire was still in the wheelchair after the group had dropped an organ on him.

Not only did Angel feel guilty for terrorizing them like he had, he felt guilty for not caring for Spike better when the younger vampire was in that wheelchair. He only hoped Spike would let him make up for the past.

Angel wasn't sure how likely that would be, the first thing Spike did when they arrived back in LA was demand Angel tell him what it was that he'd done to Blair in the past to make the girl so afraid of him. To be honest Angel wanted to tell him, he wanted to tell Spike exactly what it was Angelus – no, what he had done to Blair to make the girl fear him so completely. However, he felt it was not his story to tell. At least not completely his story, it belonged to Blair and it was up to Blair to tell Spike.

Currently Angel was not sure where Spike had gone. After having a short scuffle when Angel refused to spill the information Spike had stormed out to parts unknown. Xander remained behind to assist Angel in making important phone calls.

The first phone call was to Rupert Giles and the Sunnydale team. They assured the group that Spike and Xander were perfectly fine but informed them of the new hellmouth in Boston. Xander ensured to give them an edited account of the events. None of them needed to know that Blair, Spike's childe, had been involved nor did they need to know that they were currently looking into raising her from hell. Angel had put Wesley on that task and after expressing his concern for raising a vampire from hell Angel gave him his 'just do it' phrase and left the ex-watcher to 'just do it.'

Angel turned to where Xander stood near him, he noticed the boy had grown into something of a man since the last time he'd seen him. This was a human who had managed to have such a strong hold over a Master Vampire like Spike and then release that Master Vampire from the short leash he'd had in the microchip in his head and still keep that hold. He had to respect Xander, there must be something about the boy that keeps Spike utterly captivated and whatever that was Angel was glad for it. He could see the changes in Spike and hoped the changes continued not only for Spike's sake, but for Xander's sake as well.

"You should go find Spike before he drinks himself into a stupor. I know him." Angel said as he moved away from the windows to sit behind his desk. He pulled out a piece of paper and began to write an address on it. "When he was here last this was the bar he liked to frequent. He is nothing if not a creature of habit."

Xander walked over to look at the address. He eyed Angel a moment, "this is a strip club."

"I know, he liked writing rather large checks to the dancers in my name on my accounts. The girls and guys seemed to like him a lot. I don't doubt he lifted my checkbook before he left." Angel said as he handed the paper to Xander.

Xander nodded, folding the paper up and putting it in his pocket, "that sounds like Spike."

"Please bring him back with minimal a damage, that's one of the few bars that will still talk to me because one of my associates hasn't completely wrecked it yet." Angel knew that if Spike didn't want to come back nothing short of hell freezing over would move him. He just hoped his childe would come back so they could talk. Spike had to face the very real possibility that his childe was dead and not coming back.

*** Meanwhile ***

Spike downed another shot as he watched some nameless girl shake her ass. It didn't matter; blonde, brunette, no matter the color he always saw blood red hair and moss green eyes. Why had he been such a wanker to her? He knew why, he always had to outdo 'daddy' that's why. Spike sneered bitterly into his glass as he poured another shot and downed it. He knew that he'd seriously hurt Blair that last night she had been in Sunnydale when she begged him to come with her.

Sunnydale  
Before Angelus went to hell

Spike sneered as Angelus walked off, Dru hanging off her 'daddy', and wheeled himself over to get a beer out of his fridge. He'd show them eventually, he'd show them all he was more than that. He didn't need them.

Blair waited until Angelus had rounded the corner and wouldn't see her. She carefully snuck into Spike's room where Dru had left a puppy for Spike to eat. She glared at the puppy, that wouldn't help Spike at all. She pulled a struggling girl into the room she'd picked up earlier. "Spike, I brought dinner," Blair said softly as she dropped the girl on the bed, scaring the puppy and making it run away.

Spike turned when he heard Blair speak. He smiled a bit, it was because of Blair he was getting real sustenance. He looked at the girl, looked healthy but scared. She always knew how to pick them. "Ta, lovely. You're a peach, ya know that?"

Blair smiled charmingly at Spike as she grabbed the girl by her blonde hair and drug her over to Spike where she held the girl down over his lap. "Drink up, sire. You have to get strong again."

Spike smiled as he leaned up to kiss his childe, "you're so good to me, poppet." He looked back down to the struggling girl, all these nights his childe brought him a fresh kill and he was nearly back to full strength. He stayed in the wheelchair to keep Angelus guessing. Shifting faces, he could smell the girl's fear and it did wonders for his state of mind. He was fierce vampire and everyone feared him. He relished the moment before finally sinking his fangs into the girl's neck and draining her dry, every drop adding to his strength.

As he finished his meal Blair pushed the empty shell to the floor and knelt next to Spike's wheelchair. "She left you a puppy again, did she? Spike why don't you come with me, please? You could finish healing in New England with me. You'd be treated like a king! All your going to get here is puppies," Blair shoved the offending animal with a foot and the puppy scampered off to get out of the way. "I ask you, what vampire could sustain themselves on one puppy a night, let alone a wounded healing vampire?"

This was the argument Spike was trying to avoid, "I told you before, poppet, I can't leave. I need to get Dru back an show that bastard Angelus wot is wot. I can't leave this, poppet."

Blair grabbed Spike by the hair as she stood so he was looking up at her, "she's not worth it! She doesn't appreciate you. You'll never be as good as 'daddy' to her." Blair regretted how she'd phrased that the moment the words left her mouth. The hurt look on Spike's face confirmed her slip up.

Spike's face hardened as he looked at Blair and jerked his head out of her grasp, "at least I am trying and care enough about her to try. You want to leave then leave, but it'll be without me unless I have Dru." And to express how final his word was, Spike turned his back to her and looked out the window.

Blair turned and walked toward the door. She paused and looked back to Spike setting in that wheelchair, "I love you, sire." She paused long enough to see if he would respond to her. His lack of a response was what did it. She turned and didn't look back, leaving Sunnydale that night.

*** Present day ***

Spike slammed the shot glass down on the table and growled as the whiskey burned a path down to his stomach, "shoulda told her I loved her too, asked her not to go, wotever it took," Spike mumbled to no one in particular. Now he'd never have the chance to express how much he did care for Blair again.

Spike wasn't even paying attention to the girls anymore, just to the bottle that held the amber liquid that burned his throat and burned away the pain. He heard the door open behind him and recognized Xander's familiar steps. Seems like Peaches sent the boy to fetch him before Spike drunk himself silly.

Spike made no move to acknowledge Xander as the boy joined him at the table. But Spike didn't need to, he knew the boy well enough that he'd start talking any moment even if he didn't make any moves.

"I see you didn't finish the bottle yet," Ah, right on time. "Angel says he wants us back at the office, there is a lot to talk about."

"There isn't anything to talk about, pet." Spike spoke as he poured himself another shot.

"Well, I think there is Spike. Look, you can take the bottle with you." Xander hoped he didn't have to drag Spike out by his ears. Thankfully the comment about taking the bottle with him was enough to placate Spike. The vampire rose, placing the money for the booze on the table and followed Xander out the door only half leaning on the boy.

The trek back to the office was made in near silence and none bothered them. Either they sensed the despair rolling off the master vampire or didn't feel like trifling with a master vampire period. Either way, as they entered the offices everything was dark as everyone had gone home for the night, the naive humans going home from their 9-5 job thinking everything was alright. Of course it was far from alright but let the naive humans continue believing such a thing. It would make their lives better for however long they were going to live.

Spike never realized until now how short human lives were. Really, if you get right down to it, a human life is a mere blink of an eye to a vampire. Humans are born, they live, and they die. And now Spike had to face eternity with the knowledge he'd failed his childe. Not just failed her, abandoned her. Abandoned her for what, a nutjob that didn't appreciate him anyway. Dru might have turned him, but Angelus had been the one to teach him and claim him. Spike's dark princess was a sweet thing when she wanted to be, but Blair had been devoted. Blair had been willing to give up a lot for him. The thoughts of chances lost would forever haunt him.

Spike plopped into a overstuffed chair as Angel noticed they had arrived. He tipped the bottle of Jack Daniels back, hoping that was enough to help him forget and make him pleasantly numb. No, alcohol would never do that for him, not completely anyway. What he needed was some good weed. He could probably find a supplier quickly.

"We have to discuss what this new hellmouth means and why they are important." Angel said as he rounded on the desk and grabbed the bottle from Spike and sat it well out of his reach. He was just waiting for Spike to break, for his Will to break down from the loss and when that happened he and Xander would do their best to console him.

"There's nothing to discuss. You lot can talk it to death like the others in Sunnyhell. Just give me my booze back an we won't have a problem." Spike ran a hand over his mouth to clean up what spilled and fixed Angel with a glare that he knew was too weak to scare even a kitten.

"Spike, you have to come to the very real realization that Blair is gone. She isn't coming back, it is very possible that the fires of hell consumed her and she's dead." Angel looked Spike in the eye, the sooner his childe stopped and accepted, the sooner he could start to heal.

Spike opened his mouth to protest, there was still a chance, when he was cut off by a very familiar and very welcome voice from the door. "Who's dead? Not anyone I know I hope."

Three heads whipped around to see Blair standing in the door way. Her looks had changed since any of them last saw her. Her hair, whereas before it had been curly and long, was now bobbed short and pin straight with a wedge in the back. It still sported its blood red color, but now the ends looked singed and smoldered with embers as if someone had set the tips of her hair on fire and then blew the flames out.

As she took her sunglasses off everyone noticed the change in her eyes. As her eyes use to be moss green and ringed with a darker green color they were now ringed with a demonic yellow color that glowed, giving statement to her new demonic level. Whereas her shirt was a plain black shirt, her black pants were tight leather that clung to her like a second skin. The front of her black shirt was tucked in to reveal a belt buckle sporting a snake image.

Her boots were short with the pant legs tucked in, buckles cinched tight all the way up to the tops. As she rose her foot they noticed a snake image embossed into each sole. To finish off the look she wore a completely lace trench coat. It was shear and had flared cuffs that gave elegance to the outfit. Blair lifted her hands to light a skinny cigar, her nail tips looked as though they had been dipped in blood. "I said whose dead? You all are gaping like you've seen a ghost."

"I think maybe because we have." Angel answered as Xander and Spike continued to gape at the clearly resurrected Blair. "I think an explanation is in order."

Blair, as if finally noticing Angel's presence, dropped the lighter back into her pants pocket and stalked over to him. Angel stood still, obviously dreading this moment. The horrible things he'd done and had planned to do to her couldn't be forgiven and he was waiting to be punished. He couldn't imagine she would ever trust him. It was best to get the ugly part dealt with.

Blair pulled the cigar out of her mouth and blew some smoke into the air, the smoke curled about her head in a menacing way before she slowly broke into a grin, "Grandpa, long time no see." She leaned in long enough to get a hug from a clearly confused Angel before moving away and setting in the overstuffed leather chair behind Angel's desk. He should have known she'd go right for that chair; she was Spike's childe after all. But still he had to try, "out of my chair."

Blair looked up from her cigar and slowly grinned again, "Make me."

"Touché," Xander said, earning him a sour look from Angel. He merely raised his hands in surrender and backed up behind Spike.

"Explanation?" Angel asked as he turned back to stare at Blair.

"Right, I suppose you would like the quick, short, and dirty version yeah? Well, to get right to the point I'm one of Lucifer's newest recruits. I'm one of his inner circle demons now. That means I have access to the powers he has and the fires of hell. Innit awesome!" Blair grinned, of course she would find something like this awesome. "Oh, perk to this new job? I saw my old man down there. Yeah, he's being tortured like the way he use to torture me. Now that is what I call justice. Shoulda seen his face when I walked in, it was priceless. Shoulda got a photo of it."

Spike couldn't help but grin at his childe; that was his girl going for the biggest bad she could get. And the devil was certainly the biggest bad you could get in league with right about now. "Right, poppet, let's have the cliff notes. I wana hear this one." He got comfortable in a nearby leather sofa and pulled Xander into his lap.

Blair smirked as she puffed on her cigar, "right, set back kiddies cause it's a long story."

*** Final Fight ***

"You can't win, Red. We're on my turf now; the fires around us feed me the energy to keep fighting. Eventually you'll tire and I'll finish you off." Balthazar boasted as if he had already won the battle, but Blair was still standing. However, he was right. They were in a deeper circle of Hell she wished she had never seen. All around them flames shot from the ground, keeping both fighters in a make-shift ring. The ground beneath her feet felt unnaturally cold, though, as if they were so close to the center of the earth that the heat was so hot it felt cold. This was not the place for a vampire.

"You're right, B. I dunno if I can defeat you here, you're born of fire." Blair rubbed at her cheek, he had hit her hard enough to bring her down a moment ago, and when her cheek touched the floor it burned instantly.

"So you concede then? Finally give in to your superior?" Balthazar asked as he came closer, this victory would be sweater than when his master had conquered this realm.

"I never said that…" Blair said as she backed up, she had one chance and she prayed that He wanted her enough for this to work. "You are born of fire, I'm not. What happens to a Vampire when it burns in Hell?" She asked, before Balthazar could stop her from taking his victory she stepped back into the flames that circled them.

The searing pain she felt was enough to make anyone pass out. The burning of her flesh and hair, the disintegrating of her bones, the vaporizing of her blood, all of it made some of the wounds she had sustained from Balthazar feel like a gentle caress. Blair fell to her knees screaming out the pain as the liquid in her eyes boiled. And then, as if that were the cue for something important, everything stopped. The flames froze in mid air, the burning stopped, the pain stopped. Just as suddenly as she had gone up in flames, they went out with a harsh breeze.

Blair relaxed as flesh began to return to bones burned clean. She dropped her head back, looking up at the man standing in front of her. His hair was slicked back, he wore a black pinstripe suit perfectly pressed, his shoes looked handmade from the finest Italian leather, and his staff had a crystal skull topping it. He looked like a man in his 40's but looks could be deceiving; one need only look into his eyes that shimmered red to realize that. "Were you that desperate to get my attention?" He asked her.

"Nothing like attempted suicide to interest the devil himself." Blair wondered if that was her voice, croaking as if her vocal cords were made of sandpaper.

"And I take it you've thought over my past propositions?" He asked as he walked around her. Balthazar, who had been standing there originally watching her burn was now frozen in place, unaware of the meeting happening right in front of him.

"You could say that, Lou. I haven't much choice now, have I? Least, if I want to get out of here alive so to speak, I've got no choice." Blair replied.

"You have a choice, dear. They all had a choice; they just chose to take my deal." Lucifer stopped directly behind her, "what shall it be then?"

Blair took a breath she didn't need, "you know it smells awful down here, like fire and brimstone."

"I wonder why," Lucifer said in an amused tone. "You're prolonging the inevitable, dear. We both know you've already accepted. The only question is what you want in return for selling what is left of your soul to me."

"I want them all to pay…" Blair said in a defeated voice. Well, if she had to damn herself again she might as well make it worth it, right?

"And who might that be?" He could probably guess who she wanted him to make pay, but he had to hear it from her.

"The initiative, I want them to pay. The ones that put the chip in Spike's head and hurt him so he couldn't even feed himself. I want them to burn."

"That is quite a tall order, isn't it?" Lou could do it; there was no doubting that, "is that all you want?"

"I figure you're gona want me to do some jobs for you anyway, so I figure you're going to send me back to Earth anyway. So yeah, that's about it." Blair looked up at Balthazar, the little prick didn't know what was happening at all, but he was about to find out.

"Quite an astute observation, dear. You are quite right; I do want to send you back to Earth. But first, we must deal with the incompetent one who couldn't even get rid of a vampire." Lucifer turned his attention from her to Balthazar who suddenly found himself free from his frozen state and suddenly under Lucifer's intense scrutiny.

"Master, you are here to see my victory?" Balthazar pondered why Blair was no longer on fire.

"No, Blathazar, I've come to find someone else who can do your job better." Lucifer started to circle the now distraught demon, "you've failed multiple times to kill this vampire and I'm starting to think she would do a better job than you. In fact, I've decided to do just that. Your services are no longer required."

"But master, I was about to finish her off. If you would al-" Balthazar's body convulsed as Lucifer touched his shoulder. Power began to leach from the form toward that hand, leaving nothing but a corrupt demon being drained of life.

"No, Balthazar, I've made enough concessions for you. Your power will feed my new messenger; I believe she will do a much better job than you." Slowly Balthazar's body shriveled as energy and life was sucked from him.

What happens to a demon that dies in hell, when he is drained of life so that his body is no longer protected from the flames which bore him? He ceases to exist. What was left of Balthazar's body slowly disintegrated into vapor as the flames around them finished him off, taking back in the demon that was born from them.

"He was not my most competent demon, I have to admit." Lucifer said as he walked back to Blair's side, "there will be a great cleaning out down here, I assure you. There are a few demons who wish to take your realm from me. Earth will be mine to control in time, when Humans resemble demons in their every day acts so much that I will be able to seep my way through the cracks. For now, I will take care of those who wish to take over that realm now. And you've given me the perfect reason to get rid of them."

"And just what are you talking about, Lou?" Blair asked, she was still on her knees waiting for the end. As Lou had said, it was inevitable.

"You'll understand soon, my dear, very soon. Let's hope your sire was worth all this." Lucifer reached down and pressed his hand against her chest and she began to burn from the inside out. Her eyes glowed as her soul or what was left of it, burned and left her body as her newly cut finger dripped blood to a parchment below. There was no going back now.

*** Present Day ***

As they finished listening to Blair's story Spike felt himself awestruck. The childe he'd abandoned so many times still devoted to him so much she had sacrificed what was left of her soul for him. He was determined now more than ever to make up for being a crappy sire. She deserved better now.

Angel was the first to speak after she had finished relaying her story, "do you know what you did Blair? You have lost what was left of your soul for power; you'll never get it back now."

"Calm down Gel-boy. I have a plan so just relax. I figure eventually Lou is gona need some jobs done, and I'm not gona do them all for free. Eventually he's gona need a favor, then he's gona owe me a favor and I figure eventually those favors are gona add up and I can get my soul back." Blair put her boots up on Angel's desk, who knocked them off. He could handle her sitting in his chair but he wasn't letting her ruin his nice desk.

"You still damned yourself again." Angel reminded her.

Blair shrugged as she sat back, "yeah, your right. But that's not the point. The point is The Fall is going to happen." When she got confused looks she got up from the chair and started to pace the room, time for real explanation time. "Look, you both know how the Senior Partners here at Wolfram and Hart want to take over this world. They are managing it but slowly, and our job is to stop them." She looked toward Angel, "Lou was very specific on that. We have to stop them, and that's where I come in. With the powers I wield now I can give us an edge to stop them. There's more, though."

"How much more?" Angel asked as he leaned back against his desk.

"The Fall, it's gona happen. It doesn't matter if the Senior Partners manage their own little slice of hell here. They'll pass eventually. But Lou has his sights set on this world. The damnable thing of it? There's nothing we can do to stop it." Blair paced until she finally found herself in front of the necro-tinted windows, looking down on LA.

"I beg to differ, Blair." Angel mentioned from his desk.

Blair shook her head, "No, there is no way to stop the real Fall. Think about it, humans have become so corrupted now. All they care about is how they can screw over each other to get the best for themselves. They bomb each other for spits of land or resources they didn't have before. Humans would rather kill each other than play nice and do for this world the way they should." Blair turned so she was now facing her sire, Angel, and Xander. "Humanity is on a slippery slope down to damnation and there is no way we can stop it in time. The only thing we can do is save as many innocent lives as we can when it happens. And that's the ultimate reason why I allowed myself to be double damned. So I would have the power to help."

Both vampires, souled and unsouled alike were awed by her determination to make a difference. Perhaps she'd seen this in a vision, or knew it was going to happen a long time ago. She walked away from the window and pulled three tattered books from inside her lace coat and dropped them down on the desk. These were very same books she had saved from her home the night she was turned.

Angel took a moment to pick up one of the volumes. Most of it was in Latin, but detailed the fall of humanity as according to Nostradamus. This looked to have been journals and research done by one of Blair's ancestors possibly.

"Those books have been in my family since I can remember. I've studied them time and again and knew that they would come in handy." Blair placed the cigar back into her mouth for a quick puff before pulling back out to address them all.

"It's not a matter of if; it's a matter of when. The Fall _will_ happen. The only question is are we going to make a big enough difference to save humanity when the time comes?"

* * *

NOTE: This isn't the last chapter. There is an Epilogue planned and in progress. But really this is the last official chapter.


	7. Epilogue: Catching Reconciliation

Disclaimer: I own nothing, I bow to Joss' awesomeness. This was made to honor him and his great characters and for me to have a bloody good time! lol enjoy!

**Catching Me**

**Epilogue:  
Catching Reconciliation**

Blair looked down at the ant like people walking below her where she sat at the edge of the roof. It had been two months since her return from Hell and her message about The Fall that was to happen eventually. She found herself not quite as changed as she'd thought. She had access to the powers that Lucifer controlled, yes. Her appearance had changed slightly as well. But otherwise she was just as she was before it had happened.

She had to admit, a lack of threat from Balthazar was rather nice. She hated their games that seemed to happen monthly. The two months had been peaceful somewhat. Even if she and Spike had been avoiding each other. Either he would go out with Xander or go out alone whenever she was in, and she would go out the moment he came back. She knew they couldn't avoid each other for much longer; it was time to put the past behind them.

Obviously Spike had the same way of thinking because that was what brought him to the roof level where Blair sat. The apartment building wasn't very large, but large enough to fit a number of apartments. One of which Xander had put in his name for them to share.

Spike watched Blair as she tipped the beer bottle back, draining the last of its contents, and holding it out away from her before letting it drop. A few seconds later they heard someone below call out in pain as the bear bottle hit them. Blair snickered and leaned back a bit. "I can hear you thinking back there," Blair said as she closed her eyes, knowing Spike was standing there trying to decide what to say, "The smell of rubber burning is retched."

"Piss off," Spike said half heartedly. He hooked his thumbs in his belt and slowly sauntered over to Blair. He stood next to Blair and cleared his throat, "We need to talk."

"That is the understatement of the decade, Peaches." She smirked, any day she could turn Spike's quips back on him was a good day for her.

"You know wot I mean, poppet. I-"

"Don't call me that," Blair interrupted, getting another beer out of her six pack and prying the cap off. The cap shot away toward the street below and she tipped it back to drain a good portion of the fluid out.

"You never complained about me calling you poppet before." Spike reminded her.

"I'm not your puppet anymore," Blair said bitterly.

Spike visably winced, the double meaning not lost on him. "I never treated you like a puppet, luv. You always made your own decisions. It was your decision to leave Sunnydale." Ouch, and Spike knew that was a mistake before the wounds left his mouth but as usual the filter was turned off today.

"Don't start, Spike. You know why I left. I begged you to come with me but you refused." Blair finished off the second beer but didn't let this one drop over the side. Instead she placed it back inside the six pack carton and grabbed another.

"I had to stay for-"

"For your pissing contest with Angelus. Don't bullshit me Spike, that's the only reason why you stayed. It wasn't even about Dru, you knew she'd come running back eventually. It was all about the pissing contest between you and Angelus and you knew I was scared of the bastard. Maybe didn't know why, but you knew I was scared of him and instead you stuck around and put your ass in danger." Blair took a swig of her beer, "getting Dru back was just a perk."

"Sounds like you thought about this quite a bit, luv." Spike said as he leaned against the edge of the roof, the ledge Blair was perched on.

"Every day I've thought about it, Spike. And don't think I don't regret leaving. I've regretted it every day. But you were too stubborn to see anything but showing Angelus up and getting Dru back." Blair finished off her third beer, sat the empty down, and didn't reach for another. The current conversation suddenly making her stomach churn.

"I stayed because Dru needed m-" Spike didn't get a chance to finish that statement. Instead he found Blair's fist connected with his face and the right hook sent him crashing to the ground. In all his unlife he'd never met a girl like Blair. If he'd offended Drusilla she would have slapped him and then fucked him. If he had pissed Harmony off she would have called him a stupid name and then flounced off to sulk a while. Even Buffy would have just left, but if he ever pissed Blair off she just decked him and told him what a ponce he was being.

"You fucking shallow bastard. She didn't need you! She had 'daddy' she didn't need anyone else. She didn't want anyone else. You were wasting your time and you knew it!" Blair stood over him looking as if she was ready to deck him again. However the energy completely drained from her form and she stepped back to lean against the ledge, "I was the one that needed you. Six years in Japan training rigorously and I was still a fledge in need of my sire."

Spike looked up at her from the ground, rubbing his jaw and testing it to see if she'd broken it. Thankfully not, he didn't feel like healing from a broken jaw but to be fair he probably deserved that right hook. "Your right poppet, you did need me and I needed you. I just wouldn't see it. But I want to make up for it." Spike stood up, slowly walking over to Blair's side. She fidgeted as his arms enclosed around her, soft mumbling protests not strong enough to convince Spike she didn't want his affections. "Tell you wot we're gona do. We're gona stick around long enough to take care of this 'Fall' business then you, me, and Xander are gona pack up and hit the road. Go to Europe an tour that again. You still like Paris right?"

Blair finally gave up struggling and let Spike squeeze her tight in his arms. It felt good and safe, she allowed herself to close her eyes and hope this wasn't a dream. "Yeah, still like Paris," She affirmed as she laid her arms over his. She moved slightly so she could look up at him, "I didn't hurt you did I?"

"Luv, you know it takes more than a nicely placed right hook to really hurt me." Spike smiled down at her.

Blair smiled back, closing her eyes again, "Oh, stop trying to butter me up asshole."

"Bitch," Spike mumbled into her hair, inhaling her scent. He'd been so scared he'd lost her forever, that he'd never have a chance to reconcile with her. He didn't care if he had to do double duty as Xander's boyfriend/master and Blair's sire/lover. He'd find a way to squeeze them both in. An idea made him smile, maybe he could convince them for a threesome, perfect way to pay attention to them both at the same time. But first there was one matter needing attending, "Blair, wot about the whole deal with the devil. Your gona be workin for him till the next millennium."

"I told you all I had a plan. Relax, it's foolproof. It's just a matter of biding my time." Blair smiled, she had thought of this all in advance. Looking up at the stars she let out a breath, the night was pretty. Maybe one day she'd be able to look up at that sky in another part of the world with Xander and Spike and not fear abandonment anymore.

*** Meanwhile in Hell ***

Lou stopped in front of one of the burning pits as his son, Mammon, joined him in his inspections. "What do you want, son?" The man asked.

"Father, I do not see the wisdom of allowing a Vampire to infiltrate the inner circle. How can we be sure of her intentions?" Mammon was like many of the demons around. He sported a human shell like his father, but lurking beneath the skin was the corrupt demon that he was. He looked like any other young man you would bump into on the street, but his black eyes and equally black heart gave testament to his power.

"Don't worry yourself over it. It does not really matter what it is she is trying to accomplish, if she has a secret agenda that she has not told me about. The world will be mine in time." Lou continued walking; there was one soul in particular he wanted to visit.

"Father, you have ordered her to overtake Wolfram and Hart. You intend to give her one of the most powerful firms in the demon and human world?" Mammon asked, in truth he'd wanted that firm for himself.

"I own her soul, and therefore she must do as I command, son. It's all about owning the right people." Lou said as he came to stop in front of one cage in particular and Mammon noticed something moving about inside.

"I still do not like the decisions you've made father, especially about the vampires. They are half breeds, not deserving of this power. You do know that the only two more powerful than her now are the two of us." Mammon mentioned. When he saw that his father was not going to listen to reason, his reason at least, he turned and walked away.

Meanwhile inside the cage Blair's soul, or what was left of it, slowly came out of the shadows and into the light to lean against the bars of the cage. She smirked in Lou's direction and tilted her head. "Hey, Lou, feel like making a bet?"


End file.
